THE DARK DANCE
by maliciouspixie5
Summary: The fairy tales and warnings Bella Swan's grandmother used to tell her were real. Never, ever dance in a Fairy Circle, and never be drawn in by a handsome Fae male. One night Bella is drawn from her home into the forest – will she join the dance?
1. Chapter 1

**The Dark Dance**

The fairy tales and warnings Bella Swan's grandmother used to tell her were real. Never, ever dance in a Fairy Circle, and never be drawn in by a handsome Fae male. One night Bella is drawn from her home into the forest – will she join the dance?

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**AN: Sorry for the delay in posting. I have a Beta now and we have started over from the beginning. She is my good friend Sbrande from Australia. She is into Harry Potter but is doing me a great favor by whipping me into shape. She gets into that sort of thing. Death Eater, the description fits. Thank you so much darlin for your help. I am so looking forward till July for your annual visit! Dixiebell is planning some crazy stuff so rest up now while you have the chance.**

**Sbrande has done a marvelous job editing The Dark Dance. She also rearranged it a bit. So we will start with the tutorial and then go to chapter one on the next post. Don't worry I have CH 5 in her hands now so it will be up soon. It's in Edward POV and you get to go to his world for a change. **

_**The Fairy World tutorial**_

**FAE (FEY**) Faerie / Fairy / Sidhe (pronounced _she_) These are not your Disney characters! Tall, lithe, beautiful, magical, immortal, and mischievous.

**SEELIE** Supposedly the "good" fairy's, but mostly just the pure and pious. They don't mix their blood or associate with the other races. More mainstream, more human. The Court consist of the King of Light (deceased) and Fairy royals. The other magical beings there are just hangers on and are never accepted by the elite. They are a superficial people, if it looks good it must be good.

**UNSEELIE** Fairy's of mixed blood and the ones that have been banned from the Seelie court. All magical beings are accepted and they do not try to mimic the humans. They are naughty on a good day and on a bad one, just plain dangerous. Not the good fairy's at all. They are ruled by the Queen of Darkness.

**SLOUGH** Goblins and "Things" too scary for even the Unseelie. They are allies of the Unseelie. Ruled by the King of Illusion.

**DEMIFEY** These are the small winged fairy people. They can change their sizes to a more human compatible look, though when they do they are more of a human size and not the tall pureblood Seelie size. When they change shape to the larger size, their wings become tattoos on their backs. They are ruled by The Queen of Air. They are not sweetness and light.

**FAIRY RINGS** A ring of mushrooms. Magical legends say never dance in a fairy ring because the fairies will claim you. Some stories tell of the fairies making you dance till you die. It is a very powerful magic circle for fairy rituals.

**FAIRY MOUND / SITHEN** The place where the fairy people live. To us it may just look like an entrance to a cave or a door into a rock, but it is a world inside the earth, unlimited in its size. It is a magical entity all its own and grows as needed. If you were to ask for a door you had better be specific where you want the door to open too, it takes things quite literally and is considered wild magic.

_**Terms used**_

**HAND OF POWER** Each person has two gifts. For example, the hand of healing, meaning he has the power to heal with touch, and the hand of blood, which means he can pull your blood from your body through a scratch if he wants to. You are considered an adult when both of your powers come in.

**DIETY** The God and Goddess.

**GLAMOUR** Use of magic to disguise appearance.

**MARRIAGE** In this world you can only marry if you have produced a child together. When you do, it is permanent. There is no cheating, to do so would label you an oath breaker, providing you with a death sentence. So, no divorce either.

**FERTILITY** The fae have always been slow to reproduce, but now are becoming infertile. You cannot marry with out proof of fertility, so unless you get your girl pregnant there will be no marriage. This gets worse if you are royalty. If it is proven that your swimmers are not swimming and your eggs won't hatch, you could be sacrificed to the Deity as a fertility offering. This has happened to the Seelie King. Prince Carlisle will also stay as a prince until he proves his fertility and marries.

A fae child gestates in half the time it takes for a human to gestate, so about 5 months from conception to birth. The child will grow at the same rate as the book so look for a fast changing kid.

_**Our Characters**_

**Bella Swan** Virgin. College student. Bit of a loner. She is living in her mother and step dad's home while they are over seas.

**Edward** Prince of the Unseelie Court.

**Alice** Unseelie. Mix of Seelie mother and Demifey father. Also goes by Mab. She is friend to Prince Edward and paired with his royal guardsman Duke Jasper. She has the hand of healing and in the past when the fae were more fertile she was the midwife for the mothers. She also has the hand of the future meaning she can see the future.

**Jasper** Unseelie Duke and Royal Guard to Prince Edward

**Rose** Princess of the Seelie court. Her father gave Rose to the Unseelie Queen as a token of peace. Rose was abused by the Unseelie Queen. She was given as a gift to Duke Emmett as a reward for him joining the royal guard in service to her son Prince Edward.

**Emmett** Unseelie Duke and Royal Guard to Prince Edward

**Carlisle** Seelie Prince. He will be crowned King when he produces a child proving his fertility.

**Queen Elizabetta** Rules the Unseelie with an iron fist. She is a sexual sadist and her appetites range from just cruel to the disturbingly bizarre. Male or female, it matters naught to her, she will play with her latest toy until they are in tatters and discard the remains.

**AN: I have been in Jasper/Alice mode writing Manifesting Loneliness and it is kind of hard sometimes for me to switch characters. I have a little problem with channeling other personalities. It's worse for me when I have a good book. Lord help you if I am reading and channeling Anita Blake, then its kick ass and argue about everything. Lately I've picked up Christopher Moore and you know how goofy and irreverent he can be. He works wonders if you want to write about Emmett. **


	2. Chapter 2

**The Dark Dance**

The fairy tales and warnings Bella Swan's grandmother used to tell her were real. Never, ever dance in a Fairy Circle, and never be drawn in by a handsome Fae male. One night Bella is drawn from her home into the forest – will she join the dance?

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**The Fairy Ring**

**Chapter 1**

'I am so tired,' Bella thought to herself. It had been a long day of weed eating, mowing and yard maintenance at her mother and step fathers home in Jacksonville.

She actually missed Charlie's dinky little yard and all those woods surrounding it that you didn't have to mow and take care of. Here in Florida it seemed the grass grew over night and the weeds grew at least a foot a day. What possessed them to choose this home outside of town with a three acre yard? But the yard care was the least she could do since she had free room and board while attending college.

This week was the start of spring break, so she wanted to get all of her chores done so she would have a whole week to goof off and be young. It was also a perk that she would have the house to herself for the next year. Oh sweet freedom, what will I do with you?

Her mother, Renee, was in Japan with her husband Phil, for a year while he played baseball with the Nippon Professional Baseball League. He played in the central league for the Hanshin Tigers. The team was based in Nishinomiya, Hyogo, and the couple had a home rented there for the year.

Renee had called last night at one in the morning, forgetting the time difference of course, and talked for twenty minutes. She was bubbling over that there was a University near them. One which Bella could attend. She would of course have to move to Japan, but her mother saw no difficulty in this. 'No way in hell,' she thought, but was a little more polite when she answered. She would get over there and then be left by herself in a foreign country when Renee decided that Japan was boring and America was calling her home. No, she would stay here and house sit, thanks, but no thanks. How on earth could she afford to attend college overseas? Her mother never was one to be very realistic.

Rene tended to be flighty at best. Take today when Bella had found the fairy ring in the back corner of the property. Her mother would have them out there dancing in the moonlight at midnight. You never knew what Renee would come up with next. She was a free spirit and would try anything where Bella was cautious and questioned everything.

Renee would love the photos Bella planned to send her later. It was the first time she had ever seen a fairy ring, she had read of them and her grandmother had told her stories about them, but seeing one was a surprise. It was located in the back corner of the property bordering a pine wood thicket that went on for miles. The ring was perfect circle of various sized white mushrooms that stretched about thirty feet in diameter. The pines in the yard encircled it, and not one weed grew within its boundary. She had immediately put down the weed eater and ran for her camera.

Her grandmother had grown up in Ireland, and had told her tales of the fae, she called them the fair folk. The stories were of magical and mischievous beings and some of the stories were almost too scary for a child. She told her that the fae were always on the look out for humans to play with and virgins to take home to the underground. They were eternal, never dying and if you went into a fairy mound when you came out years could have passed in what seemed to you but an hour.

'I need to Google fairy rings later tonight,' Bella thought, trying to remember all her grandmother had told her of the rings. She removed her shoes at the door and entered the spacious kitchen. She pulled a chicken breast from the freezer and placed it in the sink to thaw later for her dinner. Turning towards the laundry room, she removed her sweaty and filthy clothes and placed them in the piles of matching colors to be washed later when she felt more up to it. At the moment all she wanted was a bath.

She walked naked to her bedroom, passing through it to her ensuite bath. Her head still floated above the clouds thinking of fairy rings and what she planned to do during her school free week. Maybe get with a group of school friends and head to the beach. A trip to the local library was a must do, as well as grocery shopping. Maybe she would do those tomorrow and pick up a new bottle of sunscreen. She all but bathed in it, and had already used up most of the bottle she had. It wasn't pleasant having this type of skin, fair to the point of looking sick. While others tanned, Bella just burned, peeled and repeated the process.

She started the shower, setting it for lukewarm. It was so hot outside she couldn't bear the thought of a hot shower also. She pulled two towels and a wash cloth from the linen closet and placed them on the stool next to the bath. Stepping into the shower she let the tepid water rinse the filth of the day away.

Later, feeling much cleaner and relaxed, she chopped yellow and green squash to go with her dinner. 'Stir-fry for one,' Bella thought as she pulled the other ingredients from the fridge. Lucky she wasn't one that needed companionship at all times, unlike her mother. No, Bella liked her alone time and was comfortable with long periods with seeing no one.

She stepped back to the fridge and removed an opened bottle of chardonnay and some soy sauce for the stir-fry. Darkness fell as she finished cooking and pulled a plate and glass from the cupboard. Quickly plating her meal she walked to the dining nook with her plate and placed her plate upon the table and then returned to the kitchen for the chardonnay bottle and the container of soy. Back in the dining nook, she picked up her latest novel and read while she absentmindedly munched on dinner.

Later, as she washed the dishes, she peered across the back lawn. She tried in vain, but couldn't see the fairy ring from here. Taking a sip of wine, she looked up over the tree tops at the full moon and mussed to herself, 'I bet it's pretty in the moonlight.'

After all her dishes were dry, and she had put the last in the cupboard, she was drawn back to the window over the sink. The fairy ring seemed to call to her with some sort of invisible pull, beckoning her outside. She shook her head, as if to clear it, and picking up her book, walked from the room.

She watched the news later that night, or at least she tried to. It was nothing but politics, violence, and malice. 'The world today is just so depressing,' she thought, and she picked up her glass and returned it to the kitchen. As she placed the glass in the sink she realized she had drank half a bottle of wine all by herself.

"Wow, you lush, better stagger your way to the bed." She giggled with a tipsy grin. She looked out trough the window over the sink again, eyes drawn to the ring. It pulled to her, stronger now, but again she tuned from the pull and walked toward her bedroom.

She changed into her nightgown, a pale filmy white creation that her mother had given her for Christmas last year. It had spaghetti straps holding up a flimsy v-necked bodice with an empire waist, the skirt was diaphanous and long**. **She would have put on her usual sweats and a tee, but being out in the heat all day she felt like wearing something loose and cool would be better for her rest tonight.

Three hours later she was awake, unable to sleep. She kicked the covers from her body, slipped on her slippers, and walked to the french doors on the other side of the room. Stepping out onto the veranda, she walked toward her favorite lounge chair. Crickets, cicadas, and frogs sang a loud chorus in the night.

"Oh hell, I'm out here might as well go see it in the dark," she mumbled, and walked down the steps to the garden. She considered for a moment going back inside for a flash light, but since the moon was so bright she thought she wouldn't need it.

As she walked toward the back of the property, she heard the grandfather clock strike. Counting the dongs, she realized it was twelve midnight.

It was so different out here after dark. The air was much cooler, and moonlight filtered through the pines. The light from the patio was just a faint blue glow. The snap and zap from the bug light had faded the closer she got to the fairy circle. It wasn't scary; it was still and ethereal out here in the moonlight. Up ahead she could see the circle almost glowing of its own accord in the small clearing of pines.

A faint breeze blew her gown around her ankles and she shivered. She should have brought her shawl. Her slippers were soaked with the dew, and the moisture seeped through them, onto her feet, chilling her even further.

'I don't know what possessed me to go outside to see a fairy ring in the moonlight.' It was a nightmarish thought.

'Am I becoming like my flaky mother? Who is kidding who, Renee would be out here naked dancing in the fairy ring even if it was freezing. I however, have my clothes on and my dignity intact.'

It seemed, as she stepped into the clearing, as though all sound, except that of the rustle of wind in the tree tops above, stopped. The cicadas and frog noise ceased to exist. The air was heavy and perfumed with the wild honeysuckle that grew in the woods. In the faint blue light of the moon, dew sparkled on the grass giving it a glittery look.

'Wow, this is a setting for a movie; all that is needed is Bottom with his Mule head or maybe David Bowie in his Goblin King regalia.'

Upon the wind a sound, that could have been the wind in the tree tops, sounded hollow and long. It came again from deep within the woods, but this time the sound was defiantly not the wind. A flute maybe, the tune it played was vaguely familiar and haunting. It was on the tip of her tongue, but never where she could fully grasp it. Sound echoed and seemed to surround her; it was solid, almost caressing her skin.

A voice clear as a bell came with the next repeat of the tune. Words rang so beautifully on the air, but carried a sinister quality with the spoken words. The tune was slow and the song seemed to hang on each note.

"Trust in me, Just in me."

They spilled into the light of the clearing like a dream, silent in the night. First a waif like girl dressed in a flowing gown of silken gauze the color of the palest blue. Her blue black hair was cropped short and spiky, and her eyes glowed in shades of blue. They were tri-color, almost like the different layers in a coming storm. She looked electrical, like a moment before a lightning bolt hit. The tune she sang wove hypnotic rhymes in the air freezing her instinct to flee from this unknown scene. She would sing a verse and then take a slithering step and then sing another. It was like some mad version of a wedding march.

"Close your eyes, and trust in me."

Behind her walked a tall lithe man with shoulder length blond hair. He was beautiful, dressed in a dark leather pants with a dove grey poet's shirt. His eyes were shades of blue and grey, again layered like the girl. His aura was mischievous, but the smirk on his face was not friendly. When the small woman stopped just outside the circle he wrapped his arms around her and placed his head upon her shoulder never breaking Bella's gaze. She feared this man and automatically took a step back. But then the girl started on the next verse of the song and she was trapped by the music once more.

"Shut your eyes, and Trust in Me,"

The tune floated on the wind encircling her in its spell. She broke the gaze of the blonde man only because of a movement from behind the couple. Two tall people, a blonde woman with amber, yellow, and brown eyes approached holding the arm of an even taller man. She almost glowed in the dark, her hair looked like it was spun of pure sun rays and her skin had that sun kissed look. She carried herself regally, and wore an indifferent almost superior look upon her face. Her look was one to suggest that she was gracing us all with her royal presence. Her gown clung to her in a yellow shimmer of silk.

The escort that held her arm was also in leather pants, but he wore a black vest instead of a shirt. He was very muscular, and his hair was close cropped and a dark brown like fresh tilled earth. His eyes were green and purple and held pure mirth. The humor radiating from his eyes were the epitome of Puck and a quote from "The Midsummer's Night Dream" crossed her lips before she could stop it, "Are you not he, that frights the maidens of the villagery?" He erupted in laughter at her whispered recitation.

His laughter startled her so much she felt the spell of the music snap for a moment and thought to herself that if she could just get out of the circle and into the trees she could get away from these people. But she knew, in her bones, that the beings weren't people. They were what her Irish granny spoke of in whispers and bed time stories. These were the Fae, the Sidhe, the riders of the Wild Hunt, the owners of the Fairy ring. Bella knew she was in a world of trouble.

"I am that Merry, Wanderer of the night," he answered her also in verse from the play. "Not!" he chuckled wickedly, and her fear spiked.

Bella turned and started to run but the pixie woman's voice caught her once more in its web.

"You can sleep, safe and sound,"

The magic of the song latched on to her harder this time, and she straightened and turned back once more, her body lurched unwilling toward the Fae in the pine clearing. When she raised her fearful eyes this time they were met with the owner of the flute as he exited the wood and approached the circle. If the others were beautiful, this one could only be called, 'Godly' in his beauty. He was tall, dressed in leather pants and nothing more. His hair was the color of copper with veins of brown. His eyes held so many shades of green that she swore they swirled like a kaleidoscope. His skin was the color of the moonlight and seemed to glow like a full moon. Smiling he lowered the flute and gave her a lopsided smile.


	3. Chapter 25

**The Dark Dance**

The fairy tales and warnings Bella Swan's grandmother used to tell her were real. Never, ever dance in a Fairy Circle, and never be drawn in by a handsome Fae male. One night Bella is drawn from her home into the forest – will she join the dance?

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Chapter 2**

**BPV**

"Wake up sleepy head!" Damn screechy voiced pixie.

"Alice, go away," I whine. My head is pounding, what? "What the hell did we do last night?"

"Hmmm, was it the Yeager or the Rum you were celebrating with?" The crazed bitch is sniggering at me. She never gets a hang over.

"I remember pineapple juice, I think?"

"Baby, you did the Goombay Smash." She plops down beside me on the double chaise lounge. The sun trickles in above from the Wisteria canopy above our heads and pierces my eyes. The smell of the wisteria and gardenia border beside the patio is heavenly. The wind brings the smell of the honeysuckle growing wild in the woods to add to their perfume. It's strangely familiar for some reason. There was something that I needed to remember. No matter, I'm sure I will remember later.

"What were we celebrating? I don't remember." In fact, all of last night is foggy for me.

"Spring break you lush, and the fact that we found a new room mate."

"Alice, why did I let you talk me into letting Rosalie Hale move in with us? She is such a bitch."

"Hmm, I think it was the money honey. She is from old money and you know that the checks won't bounce."

"I can get a job for the summer. Working retail sounds more pleasant that living with her." I make a plan to go looking as soon as I sober up. I try to sit up and plop back down groaning. Maybe not.

"Bella, Phil has the mortgage covered and all you had to worry about is the utilities. My rent check covers that and gives you the money for living expenses and the little extras. Rose's check will go to your schooling and savings. Trust in me."

"Save me from smart people, sunlight, and hangovers." I roll over and look at her. "You've got it all figured out."

She taps her head and then grins at me with her Cheshire cat grin. Scary little pixie. "I have the site, remember? Financial mystic, future financial billionaire, I will own Wall Street one day."

I don't doubt her. Never bet against the pixie.

"Ok, time to get up." I painfully push myself up. "What the hell!" There is dried blood on my night gown and on my upper thighs around my crotch. At the sight of the blood I feel a deep ache between my legs. It's been there all this time, but somehow I haven't felt it till now.

I look up at Alice and her grin is slowly fading. She starts humming a tune. I remember now, eyes, green swirling eyes. I remember. Dancing and swirling around a fairy ring. Swirling in a dance with my pulse pounding in my ears, swirling. There was a white quilt on the ground in the center of the mushrooms. I was swirling, twirling, the night gown slipping from me. I am cold and naked in the night. Eyes watching us, encircling us, green eyes hold me, inside me, ripping, and heat inside me. What? My head questions me, and then she has me caught in her web again.

"Trust in me, just in me.

Close your eyes,"

**APV**

"And cue the little Zombie," the sarcastic voice of Rose came from behind me. Oh she is a bitter pill. Life has thrown her a few disappointments. But we are Fae and when your life span is as long as ours, the disappointments tend to add up.

She appears before me in a shimmer of gold glitter. Seelie gold. I grind my teeth, show off.

"Mab, how is it going with the potential savior of the Fae race?'

"Alice, I go by Alice now as you very well know. Mab is best forgotten."

I grit my teeth at her audacity. Bitch.

She gives me a bitter laugh. "Mab, madam to the Fae. The procurer of pussy for a dead king. Midwife to none."

My hands clench and my claws threaten to pop out.

"Wow, still bearing a grudge against dearly departed daddy?" I smirk back at the vixen. I had to get a dig in retaliation.

Her father, the late Seelie King gave Rose to the Unseelie Queen as a token of peace. He knew what would happen to her in the Unseelie court. He may have been the golden king, ruler of the good and just Seelie, but he was a crueler bastard than any Unseelie monster. He had no use for daughters. I think the reason he was rendered sterile by the Goddess was payment for what he did to her. He got his just rewards in the end though. The Fae will sacrifice the infertile to bring forth new fruit. Trim the tree of the dead wood, so to speak. So far, no fruit, but I am working on that. The Goddess will provide.

Rose was abused by our warped Queen. Queen Elizabetta is a soulless monster, her appetites range from just cruel to the disturbingly bizarre. Male or female, it matters naught to her, she will play with her latest toy until they are in tatters, and then discard the remains. We are immortal so playtime can be a long, long hellish time. After she was finished playing with Rose, she was given as a gift to Duke Emmett, as a reward for him, joining the royal guard in service to her son, Prince Edward.

Rose, I think, was insulted that she didn't go to the prince himself, but she was lucky in the end. Emmett fell madly in love with the harpy. How he puts up with her, I haven't a clue. She is bitter, angry, and makes any one in her range miserable, except for Emmett. Her brother, Prince Carlisle, took control of his fathers court and then petitioned our Queen for her return, but by then her pride and love for Emmett, would not let her go back. She knows that if she goes back, she will be a leper to the golden court, princess or not. We, the Unseelie are unclean, and all we touch are eventually corrupted. Even a Seelie Princess.

"Keep on mind wiping her, and she will become a useless rag doll for your darling Prince," she smirks.

"You know Rose, we have to keep her calm and hidden from the Queen, till we know that Edwards seed has produced a child. The real danger will begin then."

"Why our future rest on a human I will never understand?" She sniffed disdainfully, looking down at Bella on the chase lounge as if she were an insect. She rests there with her hair spread out around her in a halo. Her white night gown is pulled up to her thighs and the remains of her virginity stain her thighs and gown.

"She, the virgin foretold, will birth the savior of our race. The Fae will be separate no more, and Utopia will reign." I smile to myself_. _'They think what they breed off this human is the savior. But I know the child is only one piece of the puzzle. And I know that a future queen will rule the board with a king.'

"Oh, please, like that egotistical bunch will ever let it happen."

"That's what you and I are for Rose, my dear. We are her guardians, until Edward comes to claim his bride and child. Help me get her in the house and changed, then we can work on what to tell her later."

Bella stirs and mumbles longingly, "Edward."

I know deep within her subconscious she knows what happened last night. She was a more than willing participant in the end. I just have to keep her under my spell till I know she is ready for the truth, but until that time I will let her dreams do the work for me.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Dark Dance**

The fairy tales and warnings Bella Swan's grandmother used to tell her were real. Never, ever dance in a Fairy Circle, and never be drawn in by a handsome Fae male. One night Bella is drawn from her home into the forest – will she join the dance?

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Chapter 3**

The tea table is set up outside in the clearing. Gran has done her best, the lace table cloth was her mothers, and if you know where to look, you can see the careful patches. It is well used and loved. Her collection of pink depression glass is on display. The pink tiered cake plates are stacked on top of each other in the center of the table. The top has my favorite cup cakes, or as Gran all ways calls them, "fairy cakes". The second tier has her cucumber and famous pimento cheese sandwiches cut up in delicate crust less triangles. The bottom tier has an assortment of ooey-gooey butter cakes. My favorite is the lemon, but I have been known to go overboard on her pumpkin ooey-gooey every now and then. Strawberries are heaped in a bowl awaiting a healthy dose of cream.

She has set the table proudly with her French African Purple Violets china. This must be serious because she guards this china like the queen guards her jewels.

The tea pot I know will hold either English Afternoon or Lady Grey tea. Gran is a tea snob. American tea will not do, it has to be proper English tea. Go figure.

Gran grips my arm in hers as we walk the path to the clearing. My long white skirt picks up nettles as we walk and the birds chirp merrily in the trees. I hear a whip-poor-will in the distance.

"I suspect we will have our whip-poor-will storm soon," gran says as she leads us into pleasant tea time conversation.

"Those scarred me as a child during the night time." I shiver at the memory of the noise of the wind so loud whipping the trees against the windows and all that howling. "The day time ones were ok."

"I remember you used to hide under the bed. But hiding under beds never make the storms disappear do they Isabella?"

It's going to be one of those kinds of tea times. I remember the stern granny of the past, giving tea time lectures on manners and posture. Like those outdated rituals really matter now days.

She shakes her head, and says in a sort of revulsion. "Your mother loved them."

I giggle. "Yes she did, and if it wasn't lightning we would go out into the rain and wade in ditches and play." I smile at the goofy antics of my mother. Maybe she was rebelling at the stiffness of grandma's life.

"I remember once she brought dish washing liquid outside with us and sprayed the grass with it. The storm was going crazy around us and she was sliding and laughing in the bubbly grass."

"I should be thankful that I didn't have to bury the both of you with some of her odd schemes. I didn't think I would ever get her raised and out of the house in one piece."

I smile. That's mom, unpredictable and wild. She has never grown out of it.

Gran continues, "You were always the sensible one, even when you were small, my daughter has always been lost in a land of fairy tales."

She leans forward to me as if what she has next to convey to me is in confidence.

"Isabella, my dear. We need to have a serious talk," she pauses to take a sip of her tea. When did she pour the tea? Sitting her cup down, she then continues. "You're in a spot of trouble little love, and the only way you're going to get out of it is to remember."

"Remember?"

"Remember all the stories I told you as a child. Those fairy tales were warnings of a sort."

"I loved your stories gran. Especially the one about the pooka pony. I always wanted to go on one of those wild rides." I lapse into memories of some of the stories.

"No baby, I need you to remember the bad ones. What did I tell you about the bad ones? How can your protect yourself? Look for them, look in my memories."

Gran is confusing me. Her memories?

Grans gone now. From my life and the meadow.

"It's getting dark on us, eat some cake dear. But not the cakes with the shavings, lets not eat those. Save those for the guest." Gran smiles and its not a pleasant one.

She pats my hand away from the beautiful fairy cakes with the sprinkles on top. Pretty sprinkles, they shimmer in the light. They look like metal of some sort.

I hear the rumble of thunder in the distance. Maybe our storm is coming. I can smell the rain in the air mixing with the ozone in the lightning.

I lay upon my side on the quilt tracing the patterns sewn into it. The edges are scalloped and the pattern is what Gran would call the wedding ring. Edward nuzzles my neck, and I can feel his smile upon the back of my neck.

"Pretty maiden, what brings you to my wood tonight?"

I smile and roll with him till he is on his back and I am nestled into his side. My arm is draped across his stomach. There is not an ounce of fat on him, just hard washboard abs under my palm. We smile and gaze into each others eyes, like all lovers have since the dawn of time.

He smells of honeysuckle and rain. I tilt my lips to his for a kiss.

/**********/

The rumbling of the thunder wakes me from my sleep. I didn't want to roll out of the bed though. Nothing beats a soft bed with mountains of pillows and hand sewn quilts. Well, maybe some one to share it with. That would have to wait though. I could hear Alice in the kitchen banging pots around. She can burn water so if I would like anything edible I had better roll out and do it myself.

"Morning sleepy head," she greets me as I walk into the kitchen. She is clutching a small frying pan in one hand and looking questionably at a carton of eggs in the other. We are so not calling out the fire department this early. I take the eggs from her before she breaks them, opening the fridge to put it back.

"Alice, let me make breakfast and you can order us pizza for dinner." Her smile lights up the room when I say this, and she jumps at not cooking and quickly puts the pan back under the counter.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Alice chants, clapping and hopping in place. She gets a wicked look in her eye and says loudly, "What are you craving for breakfast?"

"Funny, you should mention that. I woke up craving strawberries and cream. I must have been dreaming about food again." I stand in front of the open fridge and wish, but alas, no strawberries. I pull out the orange juice and sit it upon the counter.

Alice pulls two juice cups down for me. "Why would you want to dream about food? I want to dream naughty dreams."

I giggle at that, pulling waffles out of the freezer.

"Those dreams are nice too." We work in tandem, I put the waffles in the toaster and she pulls syrup from the pantry. I pull down the dishes as she lays out the table.

"Hot, sweaty dreams." She runs a finger down her cleavage in thought. Abruptly, she asked, "Bella, when are you going to find someone?"

Alice is in match maker mode again. Ever since she hooked up with Jasper, she thinks everybody needs to be in love. "Hmmm, or is there someone there already?"

"Only in my dreams, Alice." I sigh loudly, and hear a giggle from the eating area.

"Oh, don't forget we need to clean out the spare room today for Rose. She wants to start moving in this weekend"

"Oh, joy to the world," I snarl loosing my happy morning buzz.

"Give her a chance Bella."

"OK, I'll try. It's just her superior attitude. Last time I saw her, I had a head cold and her snooty comments just made me want to slap her with my dirty Kleenex."

Alice almost drops on the floor laughing at this. "If you get that urge again, please let me watch.

"Bells, we also need to do a little shopping. Groceries and girly stuff are getting low."

"Oh, I have another week before I have to worry about that. Hey, I will make a deal with you."

"OK?" She arches one brow in a question. I envy that arch. No matter how much I practice, I will never be able to do that. That devious little pixie knows it and flaunts it. Brat!

"If you do the shopping, I will clean the spare room." It's a win, win situation. I hate to shop and she hates to clean.

I can see she wants to say yes, but for some reason she is hesitating.

"I won't ask for help with the rest of the house this week either." I truly don't want to go to town today. I want to stay inside out of the heat.

"Deal," she yells. I knew that one would be the clincher.

"Make me a list of what you want from the store and any other thing you may need. Just put it by my car keys." She dances out of the kitchen heading toward her room.

I add strawberries and cream to the top of the list.

/************/

Alice's car leaves a dust trail as she heads down the drive on the way to town. I wave good-bye one more time and shut the door.

Leaning with my back to the door, I think to myself,_ '_alone time,'as I sigh happily.

Going into the utility room, I grab three clothes hampers, a bucket, cleaning solution, rags for cleaning, pledge, a dust rag, and a roll of garbage bags. I pile all this in the hampers. What is good can go in the hampers to box up later, the rest can go out in the garbage. I'm from the Rachel Ray School of cooking and cleaning. Get all you need out with one trip and don't waste your time.

Since it was the spare room, mom really didn't put a lot of work into decorating it. There is an old iron bed, a small night stand, grans hope chest, and a large dresser with a mirror on top. The hope chest will go into my room since gran left it to me in her will. I pull clothes from the dresser and closet, and pile into two of the clothes hampers pushing them into the hall.

I need to start a tally on how many boxes I will need to pack all this junk up. Mentally, I add strapping tape to the shopping list. Maybe Phil will have some supplies in his work shop. I make another mental note to look through that area later.

There is just a large picture over the bed to worry about, and it's not hard to remove. I place it in the hall for later. The bed spread and sheets, I pull from the bed to wash. If Rose brings her own, I will box these up to go with the other things to the garage. With just a few nick knacks to top off the hamper, I am finished with stage one. Now on to stage two, cleaning up the mess. I pull up my sleeves and get to it.

I take the hampers to the garage along with the picture and nick knacks. The hope chest is large and very heavy, it took a lot of effort to bring it to my room, but after much pushing and pulling I have it where I want it. I will explore it later. I finish cleaning the room and am done an hour later. After a quick bath and a cold glass of tea from the fridge, I settle down in my room to go through grans hope chest.

She passed two years ago and left everything to mom with the condition that half of what the house sold for was to go to my college education. I also got the hope chest, and everything in it untouched. It's a massive old cedar box, not pretty at all. I never liked the thing, and always thought it looked like a mummy's sarcophagus.

I kneel before it, opening the lid. The old cedar smell hits me straight in the face. The first glimpse of grans treasures leaves me missing her all the more. Gran's china and silver are boxed carefully and they take up a good portion of the chest. Her mother's lace table cloth is wrapped in tissue. I pull it out and put it to the side. Her old jewelry box is there and in it are her and gramps wedding bands, assorted ear rings, and a silver hair comb encrusted with sapphires.

Her wedding gown is boxed up and I leave it boxed. I will pull it out later to look at, there is too much dust in here and I want nothing to get on it. Under the gown is a wooden box about the size of a hat box. This is strange because I have never seen it before.

I open it carefully. There are a few odd things in it and I lift each out one by one. Out first is a horse shoe, and next is an iron rail road spike. A vial with what looks like powdered metal of some sort, another vial that contains odd nails that look like they are hand made. Then I pull out a black leather sheath that holds a knife with a black handle. It's odd, for it is carved with what looks like the astronomical sign for Virgo. Gran and I are the family Virgo's. There are other symbols carved into the blade, but they don't look familiar to me.

A book rest on the bottom, its title is 'Fairies in Legend and Lore.' I will have to read it later.

What on earth was gran up too?

I hear Alice's Porsche in the driveway, for some reason I hide the box. I don't know why, it just seems important that this stays hidden for now.

**AN: Google Paula Deans Ooey-gooey butter cakes. They are sooooooo gooood!**


	5. Chapter 5

The Dark Dance

The fairy tales and warnings Bella Swan's grandmother used to tell her were real. Never ever dance in a Fairy Circle, and never be drawn in by a handsome Fae male. One night Bella is drawn from her home into the forest – will she join the dance?

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**AN: If you are under age please don't read this. I don't go into graphic sex or anything else but some of the stuff written here deeply disturbs me and I would hate to know someone like my niece is reading it. **

**Thanks go to Sbrande for the editing. I am counting down the days till she gets here from Australia. Less than one week before the Death Eater invasion and my sister screaming "A Dingo ate my baaabeee" at the top of her lungs for a whole month. It's a wild month long house party with Aussies, a Brit, a Texan, and three Bama Girls. **

"O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!" _Hamlet (I, v, 106)_

Chapter 5

I strode down the corridor flanked by six guards. Two guards in front of me and behind me and one to my right and left side all armed to the teeth in an assortment of knives, guns and armor. You couldn't put a date on the various weapons. The guns were quite obviously twentieth century, all loaded with a mix of lead and silver bullets. The Fey are hard, if not impossible, to kill, so the best you can do is incapacitate them for a short period of time. When you have them down, do your best to destroy what is left till you can see evidence that there is no heart beat or brain function. I once saw a fae turned into a flesh ball, a living, breathing, flesh ball! He is still down here somewhere in that tortured form.

My Captain of the Guard, Jasper and his XO, Emmett has gone on to their suite of rooms to be with their wives before the banquet my mother planned to hold tonight. I did not look forward to any of her entertainments. Eternity can be boring, and she tends to seek entertainment in the form of victimizing her followers. She doesn't pull the wings off flies instead; she pulls the arms off courtiers. Goddess help you if she is bored.

My thoughts fall to Isabella; I can't seem to wipe her from my mind. Her human beauty had done something to me. Maybe instead of a human being faestruck I was human struck. But I had to wipe her from my mind completely before meeting with mother. She could draw out your deepest, darkest secrets. Leach them out of you or if that failed, she would use her form of petty torture. But there was nothing trivial about it when it happened to be you before mother, nothing at all.

Oh my lovely mother had had her fun with me. Discipline she called it. Torture, was what it was, and it was her perverse pleasure to bring it to anyone whether right or wrong, she didn't seem to care. Mother always took it to the border of taboo with me. Mother, I hate calling that woman that. Elizabetta was a sexual sadist, but she is anything but motherly. Psychopath, hmm, maybe. It's a wonder that I didn't turn out like her. Oh, I'm not Seelie sweet; I have a distinct Dark side.

My trip out of the Sithen hopefully would be fruitful. The Deity changed my plans with the arrival of Isabella. The circle was supposed to be a meeting with Carlisle, Prince of the Seelie court. With my covert help, we had rid the Seelie court of his father, the late King of Light. Bastard, he may have been the King of Light, but his heart was as dark and cold as my dear mothers. Just not as twisted. Now it was Carlisle's turn to reciprocate the favor.

Well placed rumors and near cutthroat accusations of infertility had lead to his sacrifice. It was well founded; our last birth was over ninety years ago. His death was both welcome and a necessity. We needed children or we will die out eventually. Elizabetta, and how she fights boredom, makes up for a quarter of our death rate. We fey grow fast, gestation is about five months. On our sixth birthday we resemble a human of eighteen years. The births used to happen every ten to fifteen years and each birth was a celebration. My mother is starting to look worried that she will be on the chopping block soon. Deity bless us that that will be sooner rather than later.

**********/*******************/*

The banquet hall is not loud, the voices are muted**. **The banquet hall is actually a massive geode. Tapestry and heavy drapes cover the walls but the ceiling is open for all to see. It is covered in amethyst crystal which reflects in the torch light. An overall air of unease is prevalent. The Queen is not here, so everyone is on edge waiting to see what mood she will be in. Each house is grouped with allies and wary glances war back and forth between opposing groups. I enter by the main door escorted by my guard. I find Jasper and Emmett milling near the dais with their wives and some of our allies.

Prince Jacob of the Slough is here. We Unseelie are allies of the Slough, they are mingled in our blood. Some of the Unseelie, like my mother, have dark and dangerous tastes. Jacob is a prime example. He is nearly seven feet tall, dark skinned, and has black hair that reaches to the top of his thighs. His eyes are the first clue to his otherness; they are completely black with no whites to be seen.

His father is part Pooka, Nightflyer, and Unseelie. Jacob takes more of his visible form from his Unseelie mother. Only the eyes shout _'other'_. There are rumors as to why Jacob never takes Seelie lovers. Nightflyers have tentacles and ones with royal blood have a bone hook in their penis. I don't know which he has and don't really want to know. I know something about him that the Slough Prince has kept secret. He can change shape like his Pooka ancestors.

Invisible horns herald the arrival of the Queen and her entourage. The hall doors were flung inward and banged loudly against the stone. Mother does love her entrances! First through are six of her male guards. All are dressed in her colors of black and a purple that is one shade from black. None look alike; she pulls her guards from different houses in the Sithen. Blonde haired James leads the men flanked by the other favorite Riley.

All noise in the hall ends with the arrival of our Queen. She is dressed in a midnight black gown with slits up to her breast. The only thing holding it on are well placed silver chains. Her eyes twinkle with malicious mischief, she is obviously looking forward to what ever may play out tonight. Everyone is careful not to meet her eyes so that her wicked smile doesn't land on them or their house.

Tonight she has a woman as her escort. She is tall with a proud look on her face and she holds her head high, defiantly. She is naked, with one exception, the leash that is tight around her neck. That proud look won't last long upon her face and neither will the glamour she is wearing that is hiding what she truly looks like. Most don't last a week before they are broken and simpering. At the moment though, her skin is unmarred, but soon scars will adorn it however they are physical and will heal in time, the ones that will not heal so fast are the ones that will be left in her mind. People rarely leave the queens presence with out scars of some sort to keep them company in the dead of night.

There is a sharp intake of breath next to me and I glance at Jacob. His face is contorted in anger. I now know what he is here for tonight and I have a feeling that the woman on the leash means something to him personally. I wonder what is in it for the queen to torture someone who means a lot to the Slough Prince. I begin to ponder how I can use his anger and hatred for our Queen to further my own plans and agenda.

I glance at Emmett across from me standing with Rose. He reaches for her hand and pulls the fist she has made of it into his. He draws her into his arms for comfort and kisses her forehead. Rose and he know what the woman has to look forward to, none of it is pleasant. Rose is keeping her face set in a bland courtier look. I have a feeling Rose will not last through the performance the Queen has planned for her amusement tonight. It's never good to leave early from one of the queen's shows so we need to get her out before the fun starts.

Behind the queen and her new victim are six more guards, these are all women. The leader of the female guards is Victoria. She is the queen's favorite out of each of her guards. Next to Elizabetta, there is no one more twisted a soul than she. I watched her tear apart a young courtier one night for the queen's entertainment. It was the first visit by the young woman to our court, unfortunately for her and her family, it was her last visit. What did she do to deserve such a perverse death? She giggled like the young girl she was at the wrong moment. Who could really tell with the Queen? Maybe she looked at the wrong person?

********/*************/

The banquet progresses through the night. There is toast after toast of Elvin wine and after the second hour some of the fools around me are quite drunk. This is the most dangerous time because it is when our wicked queen and her guard are at their most alert. She eases their worries with wine and good food and then pounces upon some unsuspecting soul for the night's entertainment. But tonight the crowd is really more open. They are comforted with the knowledge that the queen brought the entertainment with her tonight in the form of the woman kneeling beside her. Her look is still one of defiance. I wonder how long it will last.

Mother has spoken to me only a few times tonight as I sit next to her on the dais. She has been distracted with her pet and Lord Eastwick taking up residence on her other side. He is from one of our distant sithens and only comes to court on occasion. I have never trusted the man. When I was very young I learned to hide from him when he came to toady to the queen because his taste was oh so similar to my mothers. He would try to get me away from my guard, but I was always clever enough to evade him and had trustworthy guards that looked out for me and not my mother's perversions. I have heard stories of other young men that weren't so lucky. I lived in constant fear that she would send me to his Sithen.

There are a few things I need to do before the entertainment starts. I have to get Rose and Alice away from the entertainment. Rose, because she can't handle the floor show; it will bring back memories of the many that she was forced to participate within. Alice, because she is needed elsewhere. I need Alice out of the Sithen and handling a little issue for me. Rose can help her. Really, what two better guards could I have? I look toward Emmett and address him in the 'battle language' we developed as children. It's a series of hand movements and blinks and in situations like this one it most definitely comes in handy. He taps a reply that it will be handled and we go back to our roles as a dutiful son and a loyal guardsman.

Not long after that, Emmett interrupts the conversation of the Queen and Lord Eastwick. "My Queen, my Rose seems to be ill. If I may I will take her to our chambers." He grins at the Queen who for some reason has always favored Emmett. He reminds her so much of her late sister who was killed in the Goblin wars.

Annoyed at being distracted, she frowns and seems to want to say no when Alice pipes up, "I will take her Emmett. You stay here and take care of Edward. We can rest up for later." Thank heavens for Alice. I let plans of what I have need of cross my mind and as soon as I do her eyes cloud up with a premonition. I want her and Rose with my Isabella. They can guard her, especially if my seed took.

"Go then ladies," she says, annoyed at the disturbance and she turns back to Eastwick. "You will enjoy what I have planned for the night. He is something special, on loan you might say." She leans toward Eastwick and caresses his face and they share a look of lechery between them.

"I look forward to it my Queen." As he says this, torches flare to announce the guest of honor. Harden your heart and close your ears here comes tonight's entertainment!

"Ah, my guest arrives." She grinned evilly as the hall doors opened to a tall black man. I knew instantly what he was and my blood chilled. He was a Kishi. The Kishi are a race of hill dwelling creatures from Africa. They are malicious, and legend says that they have two faces. The face usually shown is quite handsome and is used to seduce its prey. The rear face is usually hidden by long thick hair, and resembles that of a hyena. It reflects all the ugliness hidden in the creature. It has long sharp teeth and jaws so strong they cannot be pulled off of anything it bites. The Kishi seduces women with its handsome face and invites them to his lair for dinner, whereupon it devours its victims. This did not bode well.

The man walked toward the dais holding the queen's table. He was tall and built like a runner with washboard abs and long muscular legs. He was very handsome with mahogany skin that seemed oiled in the light of the torches and his eyes gleamed orange. His long dark hair was in almost waist length dreads. Dressed in what looked like a roman kilt of paneled leather, he had beaded African wrist bands on each arm. He wore some sort of beaded sandals upon his feet and had a multitude of small daggers in a sheath running across his chest. He gripped a tall staff in one hand which had three blades upon it called a Hunga Munga. When he reached the dais he knelt to pay homage to the Queen.

"Welcome, Ata Tse from the Hill Sithen of Angola. You will make an entertaining addition to my court. I look forward to seeing your skills later tonight," she said, licking her lips suggestively.

"Thank you, Dark Queen, our King sends greetings and ask that you use me well." As he says this, his eyes catch hers and he grinned in a seductive manner.

"Oh my new pet, I plan to use you. In fact, you will give us a taste of your skills now."

She smiled evilly and looked down at the woman kneeling naked at her feet. "This is Leah, a boon from our friends in the Sough court. I think she needs to be initiated into our court." She pulled Leah close to her and caressed her face. Her hands trialed down to her breast and pinched a nipple between two black lacquered finger nails. "What do you think my pretty new pet, are you ready to play for your master?"

I think I see fear in Leah's eyes, but she shuts down all emotion in her face quickly. She doesn't reply to the Queen, just keeps her eyes bland and directed at the Queens shoulder. "Ata Tse, come here," her voice is teasing now, she is getting excited. He approaches her and she hands him the leash. "No biting," she states firmly to the Kishi.

He leads Leah to the center of the hall where he has her kneel. "I don't know about how you do things my Queen, but I find that everything runs smoother with a little blood." As he says this, he takes one of the small knives for the sheath closest to his heart and runs it lightly across her left breast. He leans close and sniffs the blood like you would a fine Bordeaux then runs his tongue from the bottom to the top of the shallow laceration. He stands up and a shiver seems to run the length of his body and then slowly the head of Ata Tse starts to turn and at the point where a normal humans neck would stop rotating, his continues to where we are all now looking at what should be the back of the mans head.

The long dreadlocks shimmer; they start to part and migrate to the back of his head. What faces us now is no longer the face of something beautiful, something human. It is a jackal, but the eyes are all human. The eyes reflect a glee at the taste of the blood and a sick look of anticipation of what is to come. This starts an hour of blood play that has even the hardest members of the court turning a shade of green. By the end of the second hour Leah's screams are hoarse but constant and her glamour has failed.

The young lady was hiding a lot. She is part night flyer. No wonder Prince Jacob is here, she may be one of his potential mates. Only another nightflyer could handle the barb of Jacob and survive sex with him long enough to birth the next generation.

Her stomach has the tentacles of the nightflyer. Comparing them to the large rough ones I have seen on male nightflyers hers are a feminine white tipped with delicate pink tips.

Ata Tse has removed a few and put them aside as souvenirs. The others he removed and then ate, along with a couple of strips of the girl's skin. She is Souagh, so all will grow back; although it will be slow and painful.

I think the Queen is getting bored with all the blood play and she is ready for her lusts to be slaked now and the entertainment is no longer doing it for her.

"Lord Eastwick," she suddenly announces, "Ata Tse seems to be all for blood. Why don't you show him how to fuck?" She sneers down at the floor show.

Eastwick rises with a smile, he stalks slowly down the steps of the dais, removing his clothes as he does. The Fae are comfortable with a lot of things, nudity and public sex are just two of the things we aren't shy of.

Ata Tse has a look on his face that shows he is not happy at the interruption, but he falls into line quickly. He doesn't want to disappoint the Queen and end up on the wrong end of her pleasure. He removes all his weapons and hands them to one of the Queens guards and then removes his clothing. The body is still beautiful; it seems only the face changes. He is already hard and massive and looks like he is ready for the next game. The next hour we are forced to watch the girl being raped from every orifice available by the two men. When Ata Tse pulled out a blade and started to create another orifice, the Queen put a stop to it and called for the healers. She had them remove the girl back to her rooms.

I am glad we got the girls out of here. Rose would not have survived this night. She would have done something to either cause her death or unwilling participation in the floor show. The rest of the audience seems relieved that it is over. As horrible as it was nothing was said by any of them to stop our Queen. You can look at them to see the ones who dislike this part of court, but you can also see the ones who relished every moment of the show. Prince Jacob is here still. His horrified and angry face is enough to tell me that this horrifying show will be to my benefit and will get him to join my coming revolution. It looks like though his guard has had to hold him down for the show. The Queen probably enjoyed his pain as much as she enjoyed the girls. Change is needed here, this is abomination.

**AN: I think I freaked my own self out with this chapter. I hate bad things happening to women or children. The movie The Last House on the Left freaked me out so bad I never finished watching it. Personally I think if you are caught red handed having done something of that sort to a child or woman, well we don't need to waste time with a trial. I think they should hang the corpses to rot on the courthouse steps. But let me get off that soap box. **

**I need some reviews folks. I have had over 3000 plus hits on this since I posted the first chapter. You should see the email file I have on the people who have put it on their favorite story and alert list. Its two pages long! I'm a packrat and I keep everything LOL. Look, a review is just as easy as putting it down as a favorite you just have to type something simple like _cool, good job, you are a sicko_, etc… I would rather you tell me you like it than call me a sicko though. **

**Oh, if you have read Merry PM me. I need to bounce some ideas off a willing victim. No one here gets into Merry and they go all hollow eyed when I want to talk about Twilight. My oldest niece keeps wearing a Buffy Staked Edward t shirt to spite me. **

**Stories I'm hooked on this week:**

**There is a Crack in Everything – Bellemeer (Slash E/J)**

**Rekindled Ashes - Nostalgicmiss (J/B I love this and the author is a darlin!)**

**Music, Magic, and Instability - A Little Distracted (I'm warning you this is bite your nails addicting)**


	6. Chapter 6

The Dark Dance

The fairy tales and warnings Bella Swan's grandmother used to tell her were real. Never ever dance in a Fairy Circle, and never be drawn in by a handsome Fae male. One night Bella is drawn from her home into the forest – will she join the dance?

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**AN: Surprise!** **Inspiration bit me on the ass. Fair warning though, it's not been to the beta so there will be mistakes and such. **

**I have had a few complaints about some being confused between RL and dreaming so for now on the dreams will be in italics.**

Ch 6 YARD DAY

"Have I ever told you how much I love yard work?" Alice lays her head on my shoulder and puts her arm around my waist.

"No," I sigh distractedly.

What are you two looking at?" Imperial Rose asks as she walks into the kitchen.

"Oh nothing, just sweaty men," Alice looks back at her with a grin. "Come see!" she squeals. It doesn't take much for Alice to get excited. Just a little sweat on her guy.

"Shove over," Rose pushes me over into Alice and we three gaze out the window at the two men working in the yard. "Wow."

At one time before Alice came it was just me out there in the yard. Weed eating, mowing all that grass, and blowing the drive clean, odd trimming and weed pulling in the flower beds. It was a lot of work for just one girl. To get it all done usually took me two days of heavy constant labor. When Alice moved in it was with the agreement that she would help with all the work. The first time we were to work in the yard I was greeted by a lawn guy with a truck full of equipment. Needless to say she and I haven't worked in the yard since she entered the picture.

But little now Alice and Rose have chain ganged their boyfriends into doing the work for them. "Alice, I at first was angry that you fond a way out of the yard work. But now I see the point" I giggle as I gaze at the view. "Those two are drool worthy."

Emmett is Rose's contribution. He is a big lovable bear of a guy who stands six foot five. He has dark brown hair and happy laughing eyes and abs that you could wash clothes from they are so defined. The guy must live in a gym. If I could I would adopt him as my brother. If we are lucky enough to ever get rid of Rose, I'm keeping her boyfriend. Don't get me wrong I have nothing more than brotherly affection for him. He lights up a room or a dark mood. He just makes you happy to be around if that makes any sense. In medieval times he would have made a great court jester if they made exceptions for the height of course.

Jasper on the other hand, I still haven't figured him out. He is so quiet. He is the type who holds up the wall at a party and just watches everyone and everything. It isn't like he is ugly either; he is so handsome it's scary. Dirty blond hair frames a face with grey blue eyes, cheek bones high and sharp, and lips that would make an angel weep to kiss. He is nice as could be but sometimes I feel like a bug under a microscope with the way he stares at me. He is built but he isn't bulky like Emmett. Tall, about six one or two with washboard abs and that little v thing some guys get. You have to watch yourself to keep from drooling.

/\\\/\\\/\\\

This morning when I first saw them I was literally speechless. I heard someone pull up in the drive as I was putting the coffee on and waiting on the girls to emerge from their rooms. When I opened the front door there was a massive blue jeep in the yard and two guys were getting out of it. I knew nothing about them coming over because Alice had neglected to tell me she had discontinued the lawn service. I was kind of wary about the two large men and hesitated just a moment with the decision to run back in the house and lock the door. Then the larger of the two spoke up and introduced himself and Jasper. Emmett then grabbed me and swung me around and asked if the yard work came with free food. I had a feeling this guy could literally eat me out of house and home. The whole time Jasper had a smile on his face that was just shy of a sneer. He almost frightened me.

I offered to make them breakfast and they followed me inside. Alice and Rose emerged to the smell of food and their laughter. I went through a dozen eggs, a pound of bacon, and a half of a loaf of bread before I think I filled them up. I was starting to question that as Emmett ate the left over food from Rose's plate and was staring at mine and Alice's' when Jasper slapped him on the back and told him it was time to get busy.

The girls cleaned off the table and bar as I ran a sink full of water. I had issues with the dish washer. I didn't mind plates and other things in there but my glasses had to be hand washed. Rose thought this was strange but coming from someone who had never lifted a hand to make her own food much as less clean a dish she fell into line. After a week I had them trained so they quit complaining.

"Hey don't forget Bella you agreed to do the house work this week" Alice grinned cheekily at me. I knew that pixie was in too good of a mood this morning,

"I remember," I said distracted. I smiled as I watched the guys through the window over the sink. They had pulled their shirts off and the heat was already working on them. Their hair was damp and sweaty and between them they had the makings of a very naughty movie. If they weren't taken already I would have loved to star in it. "Wow, you two are so lucky." I sighed. "Come over here and look at your guys"

We three were gazing happily out the window at them when Jasper must have felt our eyes upon him. He looked up to see us spying on them and laughed and called out to Emmett. What ever he said sent Emmett into peals of laughter. Next thing we knew they were standing side by side giving us a dance that belonged on the stage at "Twilight Pleasures", the male strip club in town. We collectively gasped at them as they both went for the top buttons on their shorts and stopped just short of popping them open.

We were squealing and laughing at them. Alice was motioning for them to take it off when they laughed at us and Jasper shouted at us to get back to work.

"Did I mention how lucky you guys are?" I sighed and looked at them. Rose had this look on her face. Haughty and proud and for the first time friendly in a cool way.

"I love my monkey man" the icy beauty smirked.

"Monkey man?

Yep," she said popping the P. "He's an animal in bed" Alice and I broke into fits of laughter.

"How about you Alice?" I inquired.

"No complaints there. You know how quiet he is and how observant." We nodded and she grinned, "It pays off in the bed room; some times I don't think I will ever get my toes uncurled." We hooted with laughter. Alice and Rose slapped each others palm in a high five.

"How about you Bella?" Rose asked. "Anyone hiding between your sheets we need to know about?"

I smiled wistfully thinking of my dream guy. "No, I wish."

/\\\/\\\/\\\

I was making up my bed with new sheets when Alice tiptoed in the room to announce that Rose and she where heading into town to find Rose a new bed.

"Is something wrong with the bed in there?"

"No, it's just not Rose's style. She doesn't do metal beds and insist on something natural," Alice explained. "She doesn't mean to offend or anything. "

"You know after getting a look at Emmett she might want to consider something made out of tree trunks" I laughed.

"We will call if we find anything, hey what are the plans for tonight?"

"How about we relax with the guys around the pool, maybe grill some steaks?"

"Sounds good, can you pick those up in town?"

"Will do!" She giggled, "Now don't take advantage of our guys while we are gone, naughty Bella." She laughed at me and wiggled her eyebrows.

"Me naughty?" I bat my eyes and I give her my most innocent look, which really wasn't hard to make. "When have I ever been naughty?"

"I keep hoping Bella!" and she gave me that look of hers which made me question Alice sometimes. It wasn't sweet or innocent. It was old, and ancient, and there was nothing innocent about it. Alice is the Cheshire cat, I thought to my self. She is the conductor of a symphony of living beings instead of musicians and instruments. '_What is her goal'_ I asked my self.

/\\/\\\/\\\

At lunch I called the guys in for sandwiches and tall glasses of icy sweet tea. We talked of simple things as they polished off two apiece and ate a mammoth bag of chips. They were curious about how I ended up here away from town all by my self. I explained about my mom and step dad, Japan, and baseball. It was light conversation. We were just strangers getting to know each other.

Emmett still looked hungry when Jasper announced that it was time to get back to the yard work. I stood up too quick I think because for one moment I was looking at them and then the room gave a tilt and went a little hazy. "Jasper!" and that was all I remember before the floor and the dreaming.

_The stars are so bright they are almost like a Van Gogh painting. Except the stars I'm looking at aren't over some French town these stars are staring down at me from over the Gulf of Mexico. I am sitting on a quilt staring out at the waves in the glow of the stars and a Cheshire cat moon. The noise is thunderous, crashing waves rushing in on tonight's incoming tide. If I went to the shore with a light I could watch the small fish and crabs dance their life away in the surf. Maybe I would find a starfish and if I was really lucky I would find a sand dollar. _

_I like the beach at night. It is my second favorite time to be at the beach. The first being the day before a hurricane blows in. The air is charged with an air of anticipation. Something big and life changing is coming and we are all small and powerless to stop the change._

_But here at this moment there is no storm coming. But if that is so why does the air feel so charged? _

_Looking out there at the stars and the surf and the infinite black depths I feel so small. A tear rolls from the corner of my eye. I feel small and so alone. But I'm not alone, I have my sprout. I smile wistfully and rub my round tummy._

"Bella, Bella," Jasper looks frantic and I wonder why. That and what am I doing on the floor? I start to fade again.

"_Why are you crying? He asked as he wiped the tear from my cheek and pulls me down into his arms._

_I sniffed, "I seem to be crying at the drop of a hat lately. It was that song that was playing on the radio." We are in my bed room and the ceiling fan drones above us sending down a gentle breeze. . _

"_Which song?"_

"_I can't remember the name. It talks about how we only are here for a hundred years. That and you know my neighbor Mr. Morgan passed away last week." He beat the hundred mark by two years. "One hundred and two, what a long time to live. I guess Miss Mary was waiting for him and he finally decided to go on to be with her." I tell Edward about Mary and John Morgan and their sixty plus years together. I had met him a couple of times at the mailbox as he did his daily walk past our drive. He was very spry for such an ancient fellow._

"_Sounds to me like he had a long and happy life" _

"_Yes, but you look at it at the big picture and it really is just a blink of an eye. I remember being little and everything just crept by. Now every thing is speeding up, I feel like my hair should be blowing back in the wind its going so fast."_

"_It doesn't have to be just a hundred you know?"_

"_Why would you want to go past one hundred? My neighbor was falling apart. He worked in the sun all these years and he kept having skin cancers cut off." Poor old fellow, his battered old face looked like a patchwork quilt._

"_No what if time just stopped and we could just live forever together."_

"_Forever with you would not be long enough." I smiled up into his eyes._

"_Then you would come with me and be my princess? Give up this world for me?"_

"_Princess huh? I think I would dig being a princess," I laughed. "Yes, I think I would love to be your princess. Just none of those big poofy Disney dresses. I'm fonder of the Duchess of Cambridge look. Now that's a rocking princess."_

"Emmett, go get a wet cloth, quick," Jasper sounds so calm. My heart is heavy and feels so slow. Time feels so slow.

"What's wrong?" He asks when he returns handing the cloth to Jasper. My eyes are open but my brain is so slow. I think to myself, molasses. Time is like molasses.

"Call Rose and Alice, tell them to get back here quick."

I feel so strange. I close my eyes for a moment.

"_I'll scream" I look up at him almost fearfully. My eyes must be big as saucers. His face fills my vision. He is such a beautiful man, not a blemish on his pale white skin. His eyes are so many shades of green. His copper hair is all over the pace. I can't resist running my fingers through it. _

"_I can make you scream." One side of his mouth is quirked up in a playful leer. _

"_Should I be scared?"_

"_Oh no, I think its something to celebrate." He wore a full grin on his face now._

"_Then to quote Duran Duran, come on baby make me cream." He rolled off me laughing quite uncontroably._

"_Scream, make me scream." He laughed. "That's not a Duran Duran song!" _

_I grin up at him; I knew exactly what I had said. _

"Ok, honey. It's time to wake up now." A wet cloth wipes my brow and I start to surface.

"Grandma?"

"I think I am insulted." Alice grins down at me. "Do I look like a grandma?"

"Alice, what are you doing up there?"

"Getting worried about you." She looked at me with a gruff look. Angry Alice is such a funny thing. I grimace, the floor is hard, and my head aches. "Did you eat anything, get too hot?"

"How long was I out?"

"Forty five minutes," she has a worried look on her face. "We had just finished paying for Rose's bed and giving the delivery people instructions when we got the call. I got to a hundred and didn't get a ticket!"

"Don't brag, I'm a cops daughter remember." I grump at her. "I feel so stupid."

"Don't honey, it's just your condition"

"Condition?" Jasper clears his throat from her side and her attention is drawn from me. He has an odd look on his face. It's hopeful and cautious. What is going on?

"Well sergeant Bella," she says, looking back at me, "I think you need some of my special tea. It will perk you up. Emmett, help Jasper get Bella up." And like that the subject is changed.

They get me up and help me to the sofa. Rose is across the room and I didn't even see her she was being so quiet. She has a look on her face. It's envious. What have I got in my life that she would envy me?

**AN: I'm so excited! My beta and good friend Sbrande is in the air and due to land around 9ish tonight. I think its 14 hours from Australia to LA. Then 5 hours (rough guess) from LA to Atlanta and then just a 45 minute flight till she gets here. That doesn't account for all the layovers either. Her ass will be dragging. **

**But don't look for any thing in the next two weeks – its playtime! I'm slipping back into Death Eater mode and getting the cameras and booze out. **


	7. Chapter 7

**The Dark Dance**

**The fairy tales and warnings Bella Swan's grandmother used to tell her were real. Never, ever dance in a Fairy Circle, and never be drawn in by a handsome Fae male. One night Bella is drawn from her home into the forest – will she join the dance?**

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Play list: Yes I am all over the place when it comes to music. I give Pandora hell.

Kashmir – Bond

Silent Lucidity - Queensryche

Night Minds – Missy Higgins

Keep Me from Harm – Peter Murphy

**AN: REVIEWERS WILL BE GIFTED WITH AN OUT TAKE! I wrote it last night and plan to post it after the story is finished so if you want it now REVIEW! Seriously, it's a riot you won't want to wait for it.**

Note: I'm sorry guys for the wait. I have decided to go ahead and post it and when the edited copy comes back I will fix it. She's very busy but I'm chomping at the bit.

_Wide awake you face the day  
Your dream is over... or has it just begun?_

_Silent Lucidity – Queensryche_

_**Chapter 7**_

_**It's the Fourth of July and I can smell the gunpowder from the fire works. It's one of my favorite smells. Granny is in the kitchen humming and putting the strawberries on her flag cake. Something is missing though, where is the smell of the barbecue and the sound of the others by the pool? Phil should have the barbeque almost ready by now and my mom should be howling for the table to be set.**_

_**Gran looks up from the cake to me, "Honey, that baby is making you sick. It's growing too fast for your little body." I look down at my large baby bump and rub my stomach. I love this little one, he kicks and I see the impression of a foot for a moment. He is restless since he is due any day now. Gran looks at me with pity and concern in her eyes, "You will have him, my child but there is a chance you may not make it."**_

_**My blood chills and the thought of what will happen to her without me to hold and protect her. My other hand joins the first almost shielding my stomach from some unseen harm. "What can I do Grandma?" I feel helpless and desperate. She looks at me and takes a deep breath, steeling her shoulders she does what she does best, talks me through my problems.**_

"_**First thing you can do is get out that damn book I gave you for a start." The anger in her voice is palpable. You were in deep trouble if Gran ever took that tone with you. She was a loving Granny but she would only give so far before that strict disciplinarian showed her head. Then you would sit on a pillow at the dinner table that night. Gran doesn't look like she will bring out the belt. I am far too old for that. "Read it well and be sure to pay careful attention to the notes on defense." Her face then softens and she steps toward me and hugs me tight. She pecks me on the cheek and pushes me back to stare deep into my eyes.**_

"_**You are the last of our line sweet heart. I have faced it, you won't continue your life in this realm but if you don't get smart you won't make it to the fairy realm."**_

"_**Fairies?" I look up at her clueless. **_

"_**Wake up Isabella!" she says exasperatedly, "Yes Fairy, it's in your Irish blood and your child is half fairy!" Her Irish accent is starting to show. "I had hoped it wouldn't come to this child but you are going to have to trust the seer. Read the book; learn how to defend your self. Learn fast little one and when it is time run to the ones with the wings." She pulls me in for one deeper hug and I just take her in. Comfort, love, and the smell of White Shoulders perfume. "Live for the little one." **_

_**Something in the window catches her attention and her expression changes to fear. I look out the window towards the wood. "What is it Gran?" I ask. Now I am beginning to feel it. It's like electricity in the air and the charge is getting closer. I spy red hair in the tree line. **_

/\

EB

\/

I bolt up from the couch and barely make it to the toilet before loosing my lunch. This sickness is getting bad. I hug the cold rim after I am finished and hear Alice's foot steps coming from the kitchen. "Bella, are you ok?"

"Alice, look up Dr Robinsons phone number and make me an appointment. Something is wrong. It's been three weeks and I still feel like shit." I groan clutching the rim of the toilet. I feel so week but also like I want to heave again so I just stay put.

A little while later she came back in the bath room. With one glance at me she pulls a hand towel from the stack on the shelf. She then runs water on it and kneels down at my side. Smiling apologetically she wiped my brow and smoothes my hair back. "He is booked solid for the next week. I talked to the nurse and she said a bug is going around and just give it time to work its way through your system. Also try some ginger ale, drink small sips and do your best to keep from getting dehydrated." She smiles apologetically.

I groan at that. I hate being sick. Give me a pill, a shot, do anything just cure me. This is the modern world; there is a pill for everything. At least that is my theory.

"I will make you some more tea and you can lie down in your room."

"It seems as if all I do is sleep." But I didn't argue, I just felt so bone weary tired. After sipping another of Alice's tea concoctions from hell my stomach calmed a little. They taste very earthy and wild and no matter how I beg she will not let me add sugar to them. Last time she told me with a giggle that it would change the outcome of her magic potion. But I have to say they work, I am feeling a little better. Little witchy pixie.

A little while later I'm lounging on my bed trying to read my ragged copy of Sense and Sensibility and for once I can honestly say I'm bored with Jane. I need something new which makes me think of my dream about Grandma and her book. That would be something I haven't read. I get off the bed and open the hope chest. I nostalgically run my hand over a few of grand's things before I open the wooden box and pull out the book. The horse shoe catches my eye so I pull it out also. I twist it around and look at it but it is nothing special just an old iron horse shoe. Gran kept some odd stuff. It must have had some sort of sentimental value for her.

I lay it on the tall chest of drawers and crawl back on the bed. Turing on my side I open the book. The book on Fairy Lore was interesting if not a little farfetched. Magic? This is the twenty first century; the only magic in our time is owned by Microsoft and George Lucas.

I remembered fondly how Gran would tell me stories of the Fair Folk as a child and I would be glued to every word. The more I read the more interesting the book gets. For instance the horse shoe is like a ward to keep the fae out of your home and people would put it over the doors.

One thing to note that the fae do not like cold iron. Iron is like poison to fairies, and they will not go near it by choice. It pulls their strength from them. I think to myself that the small black rough looking nails in the box could be used as weapons. Reading further on I find that they are also a form of protection. If you pinned one in your bodice you could see through fae glamour. But this one I bet would get you frisked at the airport.

Out of curiosity I got back out of bed knelt before the hope chest and pulled a single black nail from the wooden box. I poked the sharp tip with my finger to gage how sharp it was. Seeing it was sharp enough I pulled down one side of my shirt and pinned it to the inside of one of the bra straps so when I pulled my shirt back up it would be touching my skin. I stood and then straightened out my shirt. Glancing at the mirror confirmed that it couldn't be seen. I looked in the box to see if anything else would catch my eye. When it didn't I returned to the bed and fluffed up my pillows then crawled back onto the bed. I squirmed around a bit and got comfortable then crossed my ankles and returned to the book.

Something nagged at me though. Something didn't feel rite, the more I read the odder I felt. I looked down at my toes cocooned in my favorite fluffy socks. Wait, I could barely see my toes! I have a freaking baby bump! '_What the hell?'_ I jerked my shirt up and touched my gently rounded stomach and it seemed as if it fluttered. Something actually fluttered inside of me! Look, I'm no Virgin Mary, I wasn't nobly saving myself. I just wanted the first to be special; I couldn't help it if I hadn't found someone to make me feel that way. I don't recall having sex. I haven't been any where to be drugged and date raped. I don't understand! I haven't done anything! Then the nausea hit again and I didn't think I would make it to the toilet, I rolled off the bed as fast as I could and went for the bath room as fast as possible barely making the toilet in time.

"Bella, are you ok in there," Alice called from the door way. She must have been in to check on me and heard my heaving.

"Alice," I groaned between dry heaves, "something is dreadfully wrong" I didn't even look up at Alice as she walked in the bathroom and stood behind me. I stood up with her help and stepped over to the basin to wash my face and mouth and as I rinsed I happened to look up at Alice in the mirror and I almost swallowed my mouth wash. I was so startled by Alice or what Alice really was I almost lost it; I schooled my face and pretended something else startled me. I gazed in wonder at the creature that was hiding under glamour of my college roommate. Behind me stood a tiny willowy Alice that was so pale her skin was a shimmering pearly white. She literally shimmered, I was astounded. Instead of a pink human blush to her cheeks her skin had a blue tint to it and her lips had a blue frost color but it was natural not any sort of makeup. Her hair was still jet black but now it held a static look to it like if you brushed up against it would bring a shock. Her eyes were the most startling though. The eyes were three layered shades of blue. The most prominent being the baby blue of the sky but the smaller rings were of darker blues like the different colors of a coming storm.

Alice looked at me in the mirror, concern etching that foreign face. "I think you need more tea, you are so pale. I'm getting worried dear. We have to take special care with you."

'_Special care with me? What the hell is going on here?'_

I stalled. "Let me clean up a bit and I will be in the kitchen in about fifteen minutes, ok?"

She looked at me with concern in her eyes and then smiled a worried little smile. "I will go make you some of my special tea before dinner. I think instead of making a big meal I will make us some noodle soup and crackers."

I giggle at her. "Lipton?" Alice was hopeless in the kitchen.

"You bet cha," she laughed back, "Even I can't kill that recipe." She turned and started back toward the kitchen to let me finish cleaning up and changing my clothes. Another surprise hit me when she turned her back and I had to smother my gasp of surprise. There was a huge tattoo on her back! What I could see showing from behind the tank top looked to be butterfly wings. Huge wings of iridescent blue and purple outlined in black lines encased her back and shoulders. If they were real they could probably pull her aloft. And then the fuckers moved. I gasped loud this time and masked it as a heave. "You want me to stay?" she asked. I could see the tip of them draped over her shoulders when she again faced me with the question. They twitched again, almost sliding along her skin. It was surreal. I hid my anxiety the best I could with a question.

"Hey are the guys coming over tonight?" I asked nervously turning to face away from her. I didn't want to give myself away and I was fighting the temptation to touch one of those large wings.

"Yeah, they are bringing pizza and some movies."

Fifteen minutes later and after several deep cleansing breaths, and multiple promises to myself to keep calm and don't let anyone know that the secret was out I deemed myself ready for the gathering in the kitchen.

Glancing down at my baby bump I gave it a quick pat and said one small prayer to keep strong and I walked into the kitchen. Jasper and Emmett were at the bar and turned toward me at my entrance. Emmett was shoving pizza in his face and Jasper had his head tilted back draining a bottle of beer. Both raised a hand in hello. I couldn't help that my eyes widened when I saw them. I tried to cover it up but Jasper gave me an odd look. Emmett was jovial as ever.

"Don't send that smell my way or I will be hurling again," I said hoping Jasper would be distracted by that and pull his attention from me. "I'm fighting stomach flu or something like it." I looked at Jasper and tried to smile but it was hard. Every portion of his body showing with the exception of his face was scarred or tattooed. Alarmingly he was also heavily armed. I didn't understand this. I looked at him and tried to play innocent but the amount of weaponry on this man was enough to make you wonder if we were going to be attacked by a small country sometime in the not too distant future. Each arm had sheaths with knives; a double shoulder holster held two guns. Both thighs held sheaths for knives and something resembling a grenade dangled from his belt. Beside the worrisome walking armory was his smile, on most occasions Jasper disturbed me with his intensity. Now up close and without the glamour to hide his image from me, looking at this man creature could almost make me want to take off running. I knew if I did though I wouldn't get very far. It was his teeth, his teeth weren't human. They were sharp, and his smile was hungry.

Alice came to his side and he pulled her into his arms for a hug. She laughed looking up into his eyes. Even though both of them were as alien to me as two creatures could be you could not mistake the look that passed between the two. It was an all-consuming love, and I envied them for it. "You two are like Krispy Cream donuts. So sweet it's almost sickening." I said wistfully. Everyone laughed and it broke the tension with Jasper and he stopped watching my eyes to lean down to kiss Alice.

Emmett watched all this from behind his pizza. Odd creature he may be but one thing was consistent. For Emmett, his stomach came first. The only thing distinctly inhuman about him was his eyes. They were tri toned with two different greens and a streak of purple that divided each. Emmett was armed like Jasper but he wasn't as cut up and scarred. He was heavily tattooed with Celtic symbols. His aura was playful, he vibrated with humor and it spread like a virus. "Emmett, you make me feel better with just a smile." He laughed and it rang like a bell through the room. This guy was like a happy drug.

He then smiled a big pizza smile and I started to turn green. My hand covered my mouth and I prepared myself to run to the closest toilet.

"Dammit Emmett, you are so uncouth!" Rose popped him on the back of the head and if she hadn't been such a standoffish bitch I would have thanked her. "You are making me sick and I'm not even…" she left the sentence open. Her eyes widened with a look at Alice at what she almost let slip. I looked at her to see if she was going to finish the sentence.

I didn't show any shock at my first real glimpse of her. I had schooled myself not to be surprised by now on this night of continuous shocks to my system. She defiantly wasn't human. The woman was freaking gold. Her skin had a goldish hue and her hair was just like real spun gold. The eyes glowed with amber, golden yellow, and a thin humbling brown circle. She looked like a goddess and had all the humor of one also. Tall, golden, and majestic, she reeked otherworldly. How Emmett got such an uptight woman I couldn't understand.

"Ok, what movies did you bring," I asked?

"Fright Night and Total Recall," Emmett said waving the boxes at me. "Rose picked them out."

I grinned. "It's going to take something special to beat the old one. But they do have Colin so if the movie is bad we can just drool over him." I heard Rose giggle an amen to that. "They said David Tennant is in this one." I grinned as I perused the cover, "Now that Doctor can give me a checkup any time."

"Bella, made me watch a marathon of Doctor Who yesterday," Alice complained.

"It was that or soap opera's, I don't do soap operas." I cringed with disgust.

"Call me next time." Jasper ginned. "Who's making popcorn?"

**An: Sorry this one took so long folks. Its monsoon season in the South. Rain comes in around 4ish off the gulf and it makes some irresistible mud so I have to go riding in it. I wash my four wheeler more than my car it seems. **

**My Beta is back safely in the Down Under. No, she isn't Fae, she's an Aussie. I miss her and am having withdrawal symptoms. Sbrande come back!**

**Rec list:**

**The Thirteenth Rider – HachimansKitsune** Guys, I sincerely wish you would check this one out. It's a Labyrinth fan fiction and has nothing at all to do with Twilight but HK created a wonderful story here and if you like the Fae this is one you will want to read. If you like it tell her that I sent you LOL!

**My Dying Wish – **This is flipping good folks. This is one of the best original plots that have come up lately. LOVED IT!

**A Forest Fire – Bedlia** Amazing good read. Loved the twist


	8. Chapter 8

**The Dark Dance**

**The fairy tales and warnings Bella Swan's grandmother used to tell her were real. Never, ever dance in a Fairy Circle, and never be drawn in by a handsome Fae male. One night Bella is drawn from her home into the forest – will she join the dance?**

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**AN: ****Frostedglaze****- Honey you rock. Thanks for the fairy bottle idea. Hope you like what I did with it. **

**Seriously, I LOVE hearing what the readers think. Tell me what you would like to happen. You never know I just might include it. Or I could twist it into another one shot. **

**Charlie0925**** I would have loved to reply to your review and send you the one shot but you don't take PM's. Sorry.**

**Special thanks to ****BonBon****. You lovely lady, thanks for the advice and I hope I answered you're concerns. I really enjoy chatting LOL. **

Play list:

Magnet & Gemma Hayes - Lay Lady Lay

Simply Red – Sunrise

I Monster - Daydream

Chapter 8

'The world is full of massive things in motion. Little creatures get hurt."  
― Robert Fanney

It was about two in the morning when the last movie was over. I was about to drop, in fact I had drowsed through most of the last movie. The guys had insisted that they were needed at home and just had to go.

"It's not safe out there so late guys," I said concerned with the hour. "This time of night you have the serious drunk drivers. Why don't you both stay the night?"

Jasper thanked me for my concern but insisted that he was needed at home. Emmett couldn't care less; he had food to take with him so he was happy either way. "Emmett, you ever hear of something called a tape worm?" I couldn't help but smile at the fool. Who else would eat a whole box of doughnuts, a bag of popcorn, three beers, and still be hungry. He was insisting on taking something with him. "You are going be sicker than shit later," I smirked at him. He just hugged me then turned to Rose.

"Rosy my love, want to come home with me tonight?" He said wagging his eyebrows.

She just shook her head and smiled fondly at him and replied. "You just need a driver and bed warmer."

"Well that sounds good too." With that one he pulled out his pout and dimples. "You could defiantly warm a bed baby." Who could resist the combination? He pulled her into his arms and snuggled his face into her hair. She fell for it of course. Personally, I think she could frost a bed but somehow they seemed to make it work.

I left the room to straighten up the kitchen and dispose of the evidence of tonight's movie party while they said their good byes. I heard Alice murmuring to Jasper at the door.

She drifted into the kitchen about five minutes later. "Well they are gone. It's just you and me tonight." She yawned. "Why don't we finish this in the morning?"

"No, all I have to do is Swiffer the kitchen and put up the glasses and we can wake up to a clean house." I hate leaving a mess for the morning. Grandma taught me that, plus bugs don't like a clean kitchen. It's the south; there are so many creepy crawlies that would take that for an open invitation. Nasty!

"Well while you do that I will make you some of your tea."

I would have refused her but the brew did make me feel a little better. Maybe if I drank some now the morning sickness wouldn't be so bad in a few hours when I got out of bed. My heart jumped at that thought. A baby! I need answers, and I need them now. Don't get angry, keep calm. I could tell myself that over and over but I was an inch or two from hiding under my bed and sucking my thumb. Gran was a strong woman though and she taught me to be strong. So I would keep it together. I would use the book like my dreams of Gran kept telling me and I wouldn't be the victim. Somehow.

By the time I finished my kitchen chores she had the tea at the kitchen table waiting on me. This was a good a time as any I guessed. I have her alone and I have my handy nail to keep away the glamor. Let's see what she has to say.

"Alice." I looked down into my tea cup. It was murky amber. Gran would be appalled at the tea and probably make some ever so polite but snarky comment. Ok, one witty Bella coming up, think Gran thoughts.

"Yes Bella?" She sounded sleepy.

"Do your wings pop out or are they just a magic tattoo?" She looked at me shocked for a moment. I just smirked back at her. I asked her another question. "Will of the wisp or Demi Fey?" She started to hum. I could sense magic in the tune. It played along my nerves and made the hair on my arms stand on end.

"That shit isn't going to work Alice." My smirk became a grin.

Now she just looked confused. "How?"

I giggled, well that blew the tough me out of the water. "You could say a message from beyond the veil set me straight." I sipped my tea again and watched her. I giggled at her bemused look and then pulled the collar of my shirt to the side and showed her the cold iron nail in my bra strap. She looked startled and then smiled.

"How are you taking this so well?" She asked curiously. Her head was tilted to the side and the look she gave me was not a human look. It was other worldly like an alien scientist studying me under a microscope.

"I grind my teeth a lot. That and I keep picturing you tinker bell size and trapped in a mason jar. If you glow at night I could use you for a night light." I feel anger creeping back, '_bite it down Bella, bite it down_.' My voice got a little louder. "But really, I probably would shake the shit out of your jar every time I remembered I was fucking knocked up!"

"Good, real time and the visions are starting to line up." She said seemingly unconcerned with my anger. Well what was that cryptic bit about? Visions?

"Visions? What do you mean Alice? What the hell is going on? Why me? How the fuck did I get pregnant?" She smiled at the questions and waited a moment for me to stop and catch my breath.

"Well, I wish Emmett was here he could explain that last one in vivid detail."

"It wasn't Emmett was it?" I asked panicked and feeling betrayed at the thought that someone who I thought of as a friend and until recently a human friend would do something like that.

"Goddess no!" At my lifted eyebrows she said. "Jasper either, I don't share."

"Well someone shared something!" I shouted and slammed my tea glass down, sloshing some of the remaining tea on the table. I was scared, angry, and so very confused. "Why can't I remember?"

"Now that the spell is broken you will start to remember. It will be slow at first then probably hit you fast." She looked worried. "Bella, don't be shocked at what you remember. Things, well a lot of things are different with the fae. We aren't as shy as you humans so when you remember everything I want you to know what happened was normal for us."

Normal? "What the fuck happened Alice?" What did I do? Go butt wild or something? "Who was he?"

Alice opened her mouth to say but the face came to me so fast from a lost memory. I jerked like I had been shocked. "Edward!" My eyes rolled to the back of my head and I saw nothing.

\\

/

_**I am standing outside the circle of mushrooms with my back to a pine tree watching myself walk towards the fairy ring. The night is cast in blue light from the moon. It's magical in more than one way. Magic is in the air. I look ethereal and not really human, more like a character from a dream. My white night gown sticks to the front of my body and flows behind me in a gentle breeze. My nipples are erect, I look pagan and not like the usual me. On the wind there is some kind of music calling me. Standing here I hear it. But she, the vision of me doesn't with her human ears. It's pulling her towards the circle subliminally. I hear it clearly, but I'm just watching something from my past unfold. I want to yell at her and go and try to pull her away from here but it is too late, for now she is at the circle and can't move. Alice's tune has caught her in its seductive trap. **_

_**She stands there looking unsure of herself. I see how startled she is, her gaze directed toward the tree line, when she first sees Alice then Jasper emerge from the woods. Her eyes are over large, scared and beginning to realize that this situation is beyond her control and she needs to leave. Emmett and Rose enter the clearing next. Words are exchanged between Bella and Emmett. HIs laughter is loud and echo's in the wind. Rose stands beside him, haughty and disapproving of the human.**_

_**Emmett's laughter seems to break the spell for a moment and Bella turns to run. Alice quickly starts the next line of her spell song and she is captured yet again. Like an automaton she turns back to the circle. **_

_**Edward is there in the trees. I pull myself away from tree where I stand watching the past unfold as I see Edward walk towards the me from that night. He is shirtless and clad in leather pants. At his lips is a flute upon which he is playing a haunting melody. He is like a snake charmer and she is enthralled and so captured by his magic that she doesn't move when stops playing and looks to Alice and asks. **_

"_**What is the meaning of this Alice?" He looks away from me towards Alice standing to the side with Jasper. "We are supposed to meet Carlisle tonight. Not play with lost humans."**_

_**Alice grins, "Carlisle will be here near dawn. She comes first, I have foreseen it."**_

_**He arches an eyebrow at her. "Explain." He commands.**_

"_**Edward I would like for you to meet the liberator of our future. She will be your mate and the mother of your children. And something even more important she will cause the ultimate destruction of your mother." Edwards gaze went back to me and he smiled.**_

"_**She's beautiful." His hand caressed my face so tenderly. I stood here watching but I remembered that touch. **_

_**The others look curious and startled at what Alice said. Rose wasn't happy with the vision. "She is a mere human! Alice, humans are for sport." Rose scoffed. **_

_**All the while the girl never moved and her gaze never wavered from Edward. "There has to be more than that Alice."**_

"_**There is, but you're not going to like it."**_

_**He shut his eyes and signed. "Tell me."**_

"_**Tonight she must conceive you're child." Every one gasped at that one. Alice had a frantic look on her face. "It has to be tonight or all will fail. There is no other way." She said apologetically her voice dwindling to a whisper. **_

_**Edward looked back at Bella and gently pulled her into his arms. What would happen tonight wouldn't be out of love but he hoped with all that was within him that one day it would. That Bella would forgive him for what he was about to do and one day she would love him as much as he would eventually love her.**_

_**He placed a hand on her cheek and looked deep within her eyes and before his lips touched hers he said "Forgive me mo anam cara." **_

_**AN: **_Mo anam cara **/** My soul mate

Review, Review, Review! Please folks, let me know if you like it. Also, if any of you have ideas for outtakes send me them.


	9. Chapter 9

AN AND TEASER

AN: Sorry folks this isn't an update on the story. I will be out for a while depending on Tropical Storm/ Hurricane Isaac. I am in the Mobile AL area and at the moment it looks like it may hit New Orleans. That will put me on the East side of the storm which is the worst side to be on.

This sucks but the power may be out for a while. We lost power for almost two weeks for Katrina. When we went through Frederick it was 3 to 4 weeks. We treat it like a camping trip, the kids have a blast climbing downed trees and being out of school.

Hopefully this will stay a Cat 1 so damage won't be too bad. I've been through so many of these things they're routine. We are 20 miles from the water so we stay here rather than leave. It's crazy but the farther north you go the more tornadoes you have to deal with. If you are over the I10 boundary and in a stable home it's best to sit it out.

I'm from a farming family so our crops are our big concern. If it gets stronger my pecan crop will be wiped out, if so expect higher prices in the stores. The peanut crops should be fine. The cotton will take a beating though. Thank God it's not the time of year that we board cows. They are a complete and utter pain in the ass.

So since I will be out for the rest of the week (maybe) with no possible way to upload anything I thought I would send you all a teaser. Just a hint though. LOL I'm such a mean bitch.

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"Well, well Alice what are you hiding here. A pet perhaps?" She walked toward me and Alice grabbed her arm and tried to stop her.

"Run Bella!" she shouted at me. Victoria slung her into the wall with such force that it cracked the sheet rock. Alice slid down boneless and I couldn't see if she was alive or not.

'_Oh screw this bitch'_, like hell if she was coming in my house and acting like this. I swung the golf club around and aimed for the knees. I hit her hard but she didn't even flinch. My arms rang with the blow. "Oh hell." I gulped. I turned to run still holding the golf club. She grabbed me by my hair and yanked me back. I tried to swing the club back around her, but she deflected it easily.

She dragged me toward the living room and pushed me on the couch. "Well, this is interesting. One of the Unseelie watching over a pregnant human. Whose spawn are you carrying?" She asked. Her eyebrow arched perfectly. What a textbook evil bitch I thought. I must be in shock. Her smile was malicious. She then reached for my stomach and she didn't look like she wanted to feel the baby kick. I felt that if she touched me by baby would die; I don't know how I knew this it must have been instinctual. I grabbed her wrist with my hands reflexively to stop her from hurting my baby.


	10. Chapter 10

**The Dark Dance**

**The fairy tales and warnings Bella Swan's grandmother used to tell her were real. Never, ever dance in a Fairy Circle, and never be drawn in by a handsome Fae male. One night Bella is drawn from her home into the forest – will she join the dance?**

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**"When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout."**  
**― Robert A. Heinlein**

AN: Deb J Walsh, 01katie, Angelik Angel, HappyCup, Holidai, rmcrms5, Bonbon, tiffyboocullenjonas, Charlie0925, thelionismine, jadedghost22. Thank you all for your well wishes. I wish I could reply to every one of you individually but I'm at my desk after being away from it for two days and you should see this mess.

Also one of our crew, Lizzynunie, is in the New Orleans area. In her note to me she said she was staying and riding it out. I wish you well and hope you and your girls are ok. Let me know as soon as you can get back on line. I'm gonna worry till I hear that you are ok.

Another neighbor, Adipocere, in Florida is doing clean up now from the first wave of the storm to hit the states. Honey, I feel for you. If the blasted rain would ever stop here that's what I would be doing myself. My yard is full of oaks and you know what kind of mess they leave. LOL

Growing up here you get used to these things. When a storm comes into the gulf people get a little crazy and immediately start wishing it to "hit" somewhere else. I was raised to just pray that it weakened because like our friends in New Orleans and Florida we are all in this boat together. There are families, homes, businesses, and crops that will be affected no matter where one of these storms goes.

**Frostedglaze****, I didn't forget you see the AN at the bottom LOL. Oh, I need another twisted plot bunny for a one shot.**

**Thanks to Sbrand for the wonderful beta job. Bonbon and Frostedglaze thank you both for pre-reading. **

**If you are interested in reading a perverted little one shot I did for Frostedglaze review and I will send you a copy. **

Chapter 9

_**He placed a hand on her cheek and looked deep within her eyes and before his lips touched hers he said "Forgive me mo anam cara." **_

"_**Soul Mate," I whispered the translation. He calls me that when he is in my dreams. Is this the man I fell in love with deep within my dreams? **_

_**I am amazed at what I am watching. I feel like an intruder, on the cusp of this intermit act within the ring. The couples separate from each other and stand around the outside of the ring at the four compass points. Alice, with a gesture and her lips moving in whispers summons a white blanket out of thin air. She quickly unfolds it and moves to lay it in the center of the ring. After making sure it is straight, she then goes to stand in position at the north point of the circle. **_

_**Edward kneels before me and removes my slippers. Standing, he grasps my hand and gently leads me into the circle, to the center of the white quilt. I thought fairies were supposed to dance in these rings? I guess I get a different kind of dance. **_

_**I should be over there kicking and screaming at them all. I should go in there and rescue myself from the point-eared perverts and the blue version of tinker bell. But I can't do it, because really, this is just a memory and for some reason I know that it was supposed to happen just this way. **_

_**Edward and I are now standing dead center of the blanket starring in each others eyes. Alice starts chanting something in that foreign tongue of hers and in the next second we are naked as the day we were born. Must be nice having magic like that. Bibbdy bobdy boo, no worries. I'd never do the dishes or the laundry ever again!**_

_**Edward, still looking into my eyes, leans down placing his lips on mine for a long slow kiss. This kiss is one sided, the Bella standing in the vision shows no reaction, she is just an emotionless doll being kissed. The others just stand at their points watching. He doesn't seem to be into it. You can see by the look on his face that he doesn't want to do this. **_

_**I gasp as Alice's head turns toward me leaning against my pine tree. How can she see me? I'm just visiting a memory! Her smile lights up her face with a wicked gleam. I see her lips move and with a dimming of the moonlight I am in the ring, in my body. Edward is kissing me and it's like my dreams. **_

_**I pull back from his kiss and inhale deeply. He looks down at me expecting the emotionless doll, but instead there is life behind the eyes he is gazing down into. I smile and pull him back down into another kiss. This is the way I see it. I lost my virginity that night, it happened and at the moment it is happening again. Neither of us chose the way it happened, but it was fated. Well, fate can kiss my ass; it's my turn to take control. I had dreams of giving my virginity to the man I love, but those were the romantic dreams of a girl. This is now, this body is still virginal and this is the man who romances me every night when I close my eyes. **_

_**But I know this Edward. This is the dream man I fell in love with. The dream man who courted me, held me, and loved me. No, it isn't the romantic location and moment, but at least I have the right guy. **_

"_**Edward, mo anam cara, there is nothing to forgive," I whisper to him, my hand automatically cupping his cheek. He leans into it, as though still asking for forgiveness. His eyes close at my reply, but he doesn't question my sudden input. He pulls me back into the kiss and next thing I feel, besides Edwards's lips, is my body being lowered to the quilt. His lips leave mine and travel to the hollow between my neck and shoulder. He pauses there, nibbling slowly, and then he continues down to my breast. His hands are all over my body now. My hair, my breasts, my sex. They move between my folds teasing that delicious hidden bud. He dips one finger inside me, only to pull it free once more as he swirls the digit around my clit. I lose myself to the fire he is building inside of me.**_

"_**This will hurt," he whispers into my ear, his teeth nipping at the lobe in-between kisses.**_

"_**I know, be quick then." **_

_**He chuckles as he pulls back and looks at me; his eyes are full of questions and desire. But there will be time to answer those questions later. He smiles, then kisses me and continues his assault upon my ear and neck.**_

_**He is playing my body like a master and when he does finally breach my maiden head, I am so wet and aroused, that it doesn't hurt as bad as I thought it would. He stills for a moment, to let me catch my breath. I am impatient for the experiences we had in my dreams. If the dreams were anything like reality we had a ways to go. I pull back one of my legs, wrapping it around his waist and nudging him with my foot.**_

"_**Giddy up." I giggled irreverently.**_

_**He looks at me like I am crazy. "Woman, I am not a horse." **_

"_**You are the finest stallion I've ever ridden," I purred.**_

"_**I'm the only stallion you will ever ride." He then thrusts into me deep and proceeds to ride me hard. It was as if we were old lovers, reunited after a long separation. I knew his body, and he learnt mine fast. Too soon, he has me mindless and panting. The coils are tightening and I wouldn't last much longer. With a final thrust and a flick of his finger, the coils break, and I forget to breath.**_

_**My heart feels as though it will pound out of my chest. I can still feel small aftershocks clenching in my womb. Just then, Edward stills and with a primal roar I feel him explode deep inside of me. Alice's voice pulls me from my moment with Edward. I had forgotten all about the others standing there watching us! How? But what she said hit me like a glass of cold water.**_

"_**A maidenhead gleaned, conception obtained, our future secured! Soon, soon we shall weep no more for there is now at work a higher power."**_

_**And everyone surrounding us said at once. "Witnessed!"**_

_**Edward froze and looked down at me. The emotions sweeping across his face could give me whiplash. Anger, fear, tenderness, and pity. The look of pity hurt most of all. My body ached along with my core. I felt sticky between my legs, and I knew it was my blood and Edwards fluids. Maybe it would have been best to have been the living doll and not have experienced this. My dreams were romantic, this was anything but.**_

"_**One day soon, friend or not, I'm gonna kick her ass," I mumbled quietly to myself.**_

E

/**\\\\\\

B

I came back to reality with a gasp. Alice was beside me holding my hand with a worried look on her face.

"Edward!" I cried out and looked at Alice sharply. "You had better start explaining what the hell you have dragged me into Alice!" I growled.

Let's get into the living room because this will take the rest of the night. I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and followed her into the living room. Plopping myself on moms cushy couch; I tucked my feet under me and opened my water bottle. "Get to it Alice," I growled out.

"Ok. Well, it starts with two brothers and a sister; all three Unseelie royalty. The sister was the most vicious out of the three, and though she loved her brothers, she wanted the crown more than anything. Her reasoning was that they took after their more Seelie mother and was too soft to lead.

"They grew up under their father, the King, and he wasn't loving nor was he a good teacher for the future King or Queen. He would never designate an heir because he liked the tension it caused in the court. He kept the three fighting and with them the houses that sided with each. The Court stayed in a constant flux. Throw in every vice of a wicked court and you have three twisted individuals.

"We all assumed it would be the oldest brother that would eventually rule, but the sister had other plans. Long story short, the sister had her brothers killed and shortly afterwards her father. She was on the thrown thirty years before Edward was born. Edward was twenty when his father was challenged to a duel and lost. There is some suspicion that it was arranged by the Queen because shortly after his death the man that killed him became her lover. She is a perverse and evil creature.

"There were two sons from the brothers though. The Queen took them from their mothers after the death of the fathers. Emmett and Jasper are the brother's sons. She tried to raise them to hate each other like she and the brothers were raised, but it didn't work. They were a united front against her from the start. She took them in their teens so they had too much influence from their mothers, who stayed away from the court politics. Before his death the Queens consort tutored them in the ways of court. He was a good man. When Edward was born they took him under their wing and with the consort protected him from the Queen and her court."

Alice looked at me "Bella, Fae children grow very differently from human children. We gestate for five months not nine. We grow fast also. By the time we are six we are the size of a human eighteen year old. With our life we have to grow fast and grow tough. That is why you're so much more advanced in your pregnancy than that of a normal human. In about three short months you **will** have your baby."

E

/**\\\\\\

B

I was so tired, it was around four in the morning and dawn would be here soon. I could have just picked up and went to my room, but the couch was so comfortable that I decided to just sleep here. Talking to Alice all night had been enlightening. She had finally nodded off in her chair a short while ago. I was thirsty, and of course, I had to go to the bathroom. "Damn men, damn them all," I grumbled to myself as rolled off the couch. I walked toward the hall bath. I quickly did my business washed my hands and stepped from the room turning off the light.

Water or juice? I was pondering that question when I heard a knock at the front door. Alice stirred at the noise and I called out to her that someone was at the door.

"Alice wait for me, you don't need to answer it by yourself!" I called to her worriedly. 'Who on earth would be knocking at this hour?'

I had made it to the door leading into the living room when I heard Alice open the door.

"What are you doing here?" she asked who ever was there. Her question was not in a friendly tone, so I held back for a moment. I quietly reached behind the door and pulled out the golf club that always waited there for just this purpose. I wish I could get to my gun, but it was locked in the gun safe in Phil's office. If they tried to hurt Alice, I was going to club them to death. I chanted the mantra that Charlie had always taught me to myself, "knees first then head, knees first then head." Charlie had a theory, if you came into his daughter's house with harmful intent it was best to kill first and figure it out later. I whole heartedly agreed with that. I was pregnant by a man, snarky laugh at that, who seduced me in a fairy circle, screwed me in front of his friends, and got me knocked up with the savior of the fairy race. I was angry and if I had the excuse to use this club I was certainly going to work out my frustrations.

A woman's voice answered Alice's less that pleasant greeting at the door. If someone's voice could slither this woman's did. It was not pleasant and I pictured her as some hag.

"Why Alice, I was just curious as to why you hadn't showed your face in weeks at court. So I followed Jasper and Emmett and look what I find. Alice playing human. I bet the Queen would be interested in that." I could hear a sneer in her voice. What a bitch.

I walked toward the entrance hall holding the club behind me.

"I am just taking a little break from court Victoria. It's none of your concern."

Alice went to shut the door in her face, but the one called Victoria blocked it. "Aren't you going to invite me in?"

She didn't wait for the invite just pushed her way past Alice. When she did she came into my view. She wasn't a hag. In fact she was beautiful, _are all these Fae beautiful_? Why couldn't one of them look normal? Give them zits or something. She was tall with bright orange curly hair. Her skin was the color of a yellow moon that shimmered. It was her eyes that scared me though. They were red and fierce and when she looked at me, they were hungry. Her smile grew large when she saw me. She looked me up and down, her eyes returning to my belly.

"Well, well Alice what are you hiding here. A pet perhaps?" She walked toward me and Alice grabbed her arm and tried to stop her.

"Run Bella!" she shouted at me. Victoria slung her into the wall with such force that it cracked the sheet rock. Alice slid down boneless and I couldn't see if she was alive or not.

'_Oh screw this bitch'_, like hell if she was coming in my house and acting like this. I swung the club around and aimed for the knees. I hit her hard but she didn't even flinch. My arms rang with the blow. "Oh hell." I gulped. I turned to run still holding the golf club. She grabbed me by my hair and yanked me back. I tried to swing the club back around her, but she deflected it easily.

She dragged me toward the living room and pushed me on the couch. "Well, this is interesting. One of the Unseelie watching over a pregnant human. Whose spawn are you carrying?" She asked. Her eyebrow arched perfectly. What a textbook evil bitch I thought. I must be in shock. Her smile was malicious. She then reached for my stomach and she didn't look like she wanted to feel the baby kick. I felt that if she touched me by baby would die; I don't know how I knew this it must have been instinctual. I grabbed her wrist with my hands reflexively to stop her from hurting my baby.

It struck her like lightning. She was paralyzed and couldn't pull away from me. I don't know how to describe what I felt happening between us. It was like pulling a thick milkshake through a straw. The shake comes up the straw resisting the whole time. She stood above me unmoving with the exception of her eyes. They seemed to get bigger and the evil in them drained into fear. The color of her skin started to change; it lessened, like watching the moonlight dim. Then the hair lost its luster, turning from its vibrant red to a dimmer red and it looked brittle to me like straw that would crack with a touch. Finally the blood red of her eyes faded. Her life energy just flowed into my body. I felt stronger and refreshed, but I was still so piss scared I couldn't think strait.

There was an inaudible pop that I could only feel and then our odd link was broken. She collapsed on me and I pushed her off and onto the floor. Her body seemed lighter, like I had taken something besides her energy. I cringed at the feel of her, the touch of her almost made me want to puke.

Somehow, that dried up thing was still alive. The chest rose and fell laboriously. Her eyes moving in their sockets and they spat hatred at me. I knew when the crazy bitch got up she would kill me and not let me get the chance to drain her again. I then thought of the knife in Grandma's box. I had studied it in Grand's book; it was an athame made of cold iron, a ceremonial double edged dagger used in Wiccan and neo-pagan rituals. You can cast a circle of protection with it or you can do what I was about to do with it. Kill a very bad fairy.

I quickly grabbed the knife from the box and ran back toward the hideous bitch. She was still lying immobile by the couch. I straddled her body and pulled up the knife and brought it down with all the renewed vigor I had in my body. It plunged into her chest chipping bones as it went. She screamed weakly, but possessed no strength to fight me.

"I hope this hurts you fucking freak. Freaking red-eyed harpy!" I screamed and cursed as I continued to stab her. I think I was even screaming at her for 'killing my Alice'. After several strikes the pitiful screaming turned to gurgling, and then it just stopped. I was a bloody mess splattered with gore. I took a moment to wipe blood off my face. I thought of Alice again and plunged the knife deep one last time and then I stilled, exhausted. There was a dead silence in the house with the exception of my breath which was harsh and fast. The body below me was still and finally lifeless.

Suddenly I felt arms grab me from behind and pull me from the body. I screamed and struggled, but I couldn't get loose.

"Shhh, Bella, its Emmett." He turned me to face him. I stopped struggling once I saw that it was him. And just like that a dam of tears broke loose.

"Alice, she killed Alice!" I sobbed. Emmett just held me in his giant arms and shushed me.

"She's not dead, it's ok Bella. Shhhh." He comforted me hugging me and patting my back.

"It's ok Bella, I'm fine," Alice said, coming into the room. She looked at what used to be Victoria and crossed the room to my side. Emmett let me go and I fell into her arms sobbing. She held on and let me cry. "I was only out for a few minutes." Jasper came through the door with a panicked look on his face. As soon as he saw that Alice and I were ok, he calmed and went to inspect the body with Emmett.

"I'm still pissed at you Alice, but I'm so glad you're ok." I mumbled between tears.

Jasper was inspecting the body. Picking up a clump of the former vibrant red hair he looked at me and asked. "Bella, how did you kill her?" Kneeling there beside the body he looked up at me with shock on his face. "I have trained with her, a human and a little knife is nothing against Victoria. She could take on a small army of humans and win."

"Yes, that Bitch could pack a punch. She was a very dirty fighter." Emmett added. "Her hand of power could shatter organs."

"I think I ate her energy or something. After she threw Alice into the wall I hit her with my golf club, but it didn't faze her. She grabbed me and threw me on the couch. I panicked when she reached for my stomach; she was going to do something to the baby. I grabbed her arm and she just froze and then the pulling began. I couldn't let go and she couldn't move. It was hard at first, but then after a while it flowed faster. The longer it went on the better I felt."

I looked down at my hands they were covered in blood and gore. My right hand began to tingle. I pulled it closer to my face and gasped as I and my friends watched with shocked eyes the blood on my right hand start to disappear. It was slowly being absorbed into my skin. With a startling burn what was remaining disappeared into me. I looked at Alice with fear on my face. "What the Hell just happened, Alice?"

They all spoke at once. "Did you see?"

"That's impossible!"

"She human!"

"Do humans have hands of power?"

"A type of Striga?" Jasper looked to Alice. For a moment her eyes clouded over as she scanned for a vision and then she smiled.

"No something amazing." She said. At Jaspers questioning look she only shook her head and said, "Later."

We were caught off guard as Rose breezed into the room inspecting it with an uncaring look. She never asked if everyone was ok or looked bothered by the remains of the body on the floor. She addressed Jasper. "Edward will be here within the hour."

My heart jumped.

**AN: Frostedglaze (JJ), you kept me smiling throughout this whole thing. Don't worry about saving the nuts, LOL, darlin' they all work over at the TWC. ****Sometimes I wish that bald fellow would blow away though. I wonder if he knows the locals laugh their collective assess off at him. **

**Recs this week:**

**Faking It by Spanglemaker9** - I have read this fic over a dozen times and did again last night. It's like my fan fiction version of a Jane Austin novel. I always read it for comfort.

**Once Bitten, Twice Shy **by Lifelesslyndsey – I cried like my dog died, but it was soooo good.

**If you are interested in reading a perverted little one shot I did for Frostedglaze review and I will send you a copy. **


	11. Chapter 11

**The Dark Dance**

**The fairy tales and warnings Bella Swan's grandmother used to tell her were real. Never, ever dance in a Fairy Circle, and never be drawn in by a handsome Fae male. One night Bella is drawn from her home into the forest – will she join the dance?**

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**AN: Sorry for the delay. Life bites you on the ass occasionally. It took a chunk out of my world when we were robbed. Oh hell, they took everything they could. Phones, computers, E readers, music etc. My fucking diary, some perv is reading my naughty thoughts. I have these brief cases, three of them. One for my computer, one for my art and supplies, and one for my writing, they walked out with all three. I am bereft. (FYI – Alfa ins sucks folks)**

**See notes and rec list at bottom please!**

_I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.__  
__Martin Luther King, Jr._

FR Ch 10

*BPOV*

I huddled on the couch between Jasper and Alice wrapped in a robe, my wet hair up in a towel. Thankfully Alice helped clean me up. I don't think I was capable of a rational thought before she dragged me into the shower to remove the blood and gore that once was a harpy, Victoria.

I was nursing a cup of Alice's fairy baby tea. I laughed when she handed it to me and joked that it was the fairy version of a prenatal vitamin. She just smiled and bundled me up some more. Maybe she thinks I'm in shock. Hell, with what has happed to me in the last two months I should be in shock. I'm holding up, I just killed someone in my living room but I'm holding on. Rolling with the punches, nothing is bothering me. Absorbing blood through my hands, fuck it, I think maybe I'm in shock. There is a scary fucking dead fairy in my living room. I killed a fairy. I feel the panic start to rise again.

Before I could get started on the tears Jasper put a hand on my shoulder and I looked into his eyes. "Edward will be here soon. All is ok." I feel a sense of calm flow over me, this guy is better than a Xanax. There is something about Jasper that is so mellow and calming. But then again, there are times when he scares the piss out of me. It's just when he and Alice are together he lets the tender Jasper out. I like that Jasper much better.

Alice stands, walking to the window and looking out into the back yard. The pool light is on and cast wavy blue light on the night scape. We are still waiting on Edward. From what I had gathered from everyone's explanation earlier was that he is at court with his mother, who is madder than the hatter. The woman is sadistic, and everyone has to walk on eggshells around her. So the members of her court and Edward have to keep up appearances. But behind all that, he is planning to overthrow his mother. All this puts the baby and me in danger, so he is protecting us by staying away.

"He comes!" Alice yells excitedly from her post at the window. She rushed to the door to open it in welcome. Oh great, I'm going to make some impression in this old bathrobe, but when he walked in it completely left my mind. Those kaleidoscope green eyes bore into me, as though they are looking directly into my soul. He walked past Alice, not even looking at her as his eyes never left mine.

Jasper stood up and quickly moved from my side to go to Alice as Edward knelt at my feet. His large hands cupped my face and brought me in for a kiss. It went on forever and oh his taste. My lover's lips taste of sweet, sweet honeysuckles.

"Wife." he said as he pulled back looking deep into my eyes. Wife? His smile is radiant and his eyes are alight with love. For me. Little Bella Swan, the ugly duckling pitched like a chore between two parents. Bella who never had anyone to really call her own. I think I just found my home. Here with my Edward. I should be angry but I'm not. I should be scared because for all purposes come tomorrow the Fairy World will probably be hunting me for killing one of their own. But I'm not, I have Edward, we have each other.

He pulls one hand from my face and reverently lays it on the baby hiding safely inside of me. "Ours." He chuckled when the baby kicked his hand. He gazed in wonder at my gently swollen stomach and our hidden child.

"Excuse me." Rose has sat petulantly in the corner of the room nursing a glass of wine until now. "Excuse me!" she repeats pulling his attention from me. Before Edward got here every now and then she would send me furious looks. What a bitch. It seems now that the glamour of humanity is gone so is all effort of trying to play nice. Rose, she is one nasty piece of work.

Edward pulled his attention from me to look at her. Raising an eyebrow he said. Edward pulled his attention from me to look at her. Raising an eyebrow he said, "Greetings Rose, Princess of the Light Court, Wielder of the hands of Rapture and Ice." Did he use her titles to mock her? It sounded like it. The look of anger and embarrassment on Roses face tells me he was mocking her. However, it doesn't deter her for long.

"Now that you're here and you've greeted the pet could we address a few problems we seem to have? We have a body of one of your mother's guards in the living room. She is very dead and pretty soon someone is going to miss her."

"Pet?" The mocking statement comes from Jasper who was holding an angry Alice. "Pet? Your one to talk, shall we call you reward for services rendered in the line of duty?"

"Not now Jasper." Emmett said. He pulls Roses clenched hand from her lap and pats it.

"Yes now is the time Emmett. Its time your reward knows her place." His gaze turned from Emmett back to Rose. "You were a gift Rose," he said stressing the word gift. "So take your lofty attitude and catty remarks and remember that. Or do we need to go over what you were to the Queen before she gave you to Emmett like a bonus check?"

With that statement Rose's face turned from its sun kissed gold to a pale sickly yellow. She bowed her head cowed for the moment. No one really thought she was cured of the attitude but for the moment she is blessedly silent.

Edward turned his attention back to me. "Wife?" I asked.

"Yes my love, wife. In our culture when you conceive a child you are united for life." I looked at Alice and she nodded.

"Look, we haven't even been on a date," I said, pulling away from him. Looks like I am about to get a little more information about the elusive fairy world. "We do things a little differently from where I come from." Wife, well I didn't mind that really. I already knew with Edward I felt at home. I just wasn't ready to concede anything to him yet. "First you get to know someone before you marry them, there are steps you know?" He put his hand back on my stomach and smiled

.

"I think I know you, I have courted you for two months."

"Courted me for two months? Mister, we shagged one night in a fairy ring. For the longest time I didn't recall it. Pardon me, but I don't think that would even be considered a date in your world."

Emmett snorted from across the room and laughed good naturedly. "Bella, my sweet how have your dreams been lately?" he asked.

Edward sent him a look that held a whole conversation within it. He looked back at me and asked.

"What have you and Alice discussed about our world?"

"Mostly glamour and the baby."

He looked toward Alice for confirmation. "Anything else Alice? Powers?"

"Nope, just the baby, glamour, and your mother."

*EPV*

Oh, hell, how do I explain the depth of depravity I call my mother? Well, we will wait for another time for that subject. Thankfully, Bella homed in on what she was most interested in.

"Tell me about these powers?" she asked. Her carriage was showing the stress of the night. Poor darling looked as if she would collapse if there were any more surprises. I joined her on the couch and pulled her into my arms. She came to me with no hesitation. I wish we were alone. If we were, I would remove that bathrobe and feel her skin on my bare hands. Dreams are just that, dreams. I needed the touch of skin on skin.

"Well it gets complicated," I said as I tried to collect my thoughts and come up with a way to explain to a human of our world. I had to be careful also because of the baby. I didn't want her too upset

Baby, my heart just swelled. I had a family now. In the world of humans family had a different dynamic than the fey. Ours, no let me change that, my mother's idea of family was distorted, warped, twisted. I'm sure I could continue with the metaphors, but the list would be a long one. I would not damage my child with her flawed concepts. No, I liked the human view of family. My child would have a loving mother and father. I would cherish my wife and honor her over even my kingdom.

But, the kingdom, first I had to pry it from my mother's grasp. To achieve that goal I would have to stage a coup and destroy her. There is no way we could let her live. Frankly, our world would be better off with her death. Bella and our child will not be safe till she is gone.

"Our powers, how to explain," I murmured scratching my head? I looked at the others "Please feel free to add anything, I feel it will take all of our input on this one."

I looked back at her. "Some of the Fey are gifted with special powers unique from all others. "We," I said gesturing at the others, "all have two each. The gifts come from the God the Goddess. These gifts of Power maybe similar, but never are they exactly the same."

"So you have two powers?"

"Yes, we will come back to that soon, ok. We call these gifts 'Hands of Power'. You remember you heard me address Rose earlier as wielder of the hands of Rapture and Ice?"

"Yes, but what does that mean?" she asked, and I looked to Rose to explain. I hoped she would do so without any trouble. "Rose, please explain your powers." I gestured for her to begin.

"Simple, human. Rapture means I can give someone intense pleasure so strong that I can make them my slave. They will beg for my rapture for the rest of their life." She looked smug as she explained. It seemed a fitting power for one such as her. She paused and looked toward Emmett, the smug look disappeared and she continued looking back to me. "My other hand is Ice. I can freeze an opponent. Not block of ice frozen, it's more like they are stuck until they can overcome the spell. If you are strong you can get loose from it in a few minutes, if not, days maybe."

"So it's defensive?"

Alice answered for her. "Yes, but sometimes you get helpful gifts. I can heal a body to a degree, kind of a medical power. It helped me at one time when I was the midwife of the court." She looked sad for a moment but her mood changed quickly. "And my other power is really cool," she was almost bouncing next to Jasper. It doesn't take much to excite that pixie. "I can see the future!" When she said that Bella's eyes went wide with wonder.

She looked to Jasper. "What are yours?"

"Strategy, which helps in my job leading Edward's guard." It also helps with our plans from mom, I thought. He continued, "My other power is not so attractive, but it has its uses. I have the power of Decay. If I picked an apple fresh from the tree, I could turn it into a rotten ball of mush or, if pressed, I can turn an opponent into a rotten corpse." We just didn't tell Bella that in the case of the Fey it would be a living corpse. That was best kept to ourselves.

"My formal title is Jasper, Duke of the Dark Court, Wielder of the hands of Decay and Strategy. Captain of the Princes' guard.

Emmett was eager for his turn and blurted out, "I can cast lightning bolts!"

Bella giggled. "I like that one. What else?"

"Shadow." At her questioning look, he laughed and said, "I can blend into shadows and disappear." He stepped to the shadow side of a bookcase and it was like he ceased to exist. We heard his voice when he said. "The formal of my name is Duke of the Dark Court, Wielder of the hands of Shadow and Lightening." He stepped from beside the bookcase and into the light and shimmered back into our site. "It's pretentious but cool." He smiled merrily.

Bella stirred in my arms, pulling back slightly to look me in the eye. I knew what she was going to ask. "What are your gifts?"

Oh boy, hopefully she takes this well. Emmett started laughing and Jasper smirked. Her eyes got round, "Dreams, Emmett asked about my dreams. You can make me dream things?" I could feel her tense up waiting for the answer to her query.

Rose elbowed Emmett to shut him up. Was Rose thinking of someone else besides herself? That's surprising; maybe she is going to try.

"Bella I have the Hand of Dreaming and the Hand of Fire and Ash. The former means I can inflict burns, or at my worst, burn my opponent to ash from the inside out."

"And the other?"

"The hand of Dreaming means I can walk in your dreams. I can change a dream to something of my choice. I can influence outcomes, torment with nightmares, trap someone in their dreams, kill, and seduce." I left that hanging.

"What were you doing in my dreams," she asked?

I grinned and Emmett snorted. She very well knew what we were doing in her dreams. How do I paint this in a better picture?

"Besides that." Everyone laughed and Bella flushed a deep red color all the way down to her chest. That bathrobe needs to come off.

"I was courting you." I pulled her face closer for a quick kiss. Once it started though, I didn't want to stop. I cursed and pulled away as everyone laughed again. Bella buried her face in my neck. "I needed to know you, know everything about you and with my situation that was my only way."

"In a perfect world, we would get to know each other slowly, but our world is anything but perfect. I needed you so much Bella. I hoped you would fall in love with me."

"I did." When she said that my heart exploded with joy. She continued, "You were my perfect dream guy. The one you dream of, but never find or dream about again. But I did see you again, you came every night to me and," she stopped flustered only to start again jerkily. "How can you fall in love in a dream?"

"Easily, how many times a day did you look back at those dreams? Did you play them over and over in your mind? Did you long for sleep so you could see me again? Does your heart ache for me yet Bella?"

"I think it's starting to," she whispered. "We spilled our hearts to each other in those dreams Edward. But this is too fast. Those were just dreams!"

I kissed her and looking deep into her eyes and whispered on her lips, "No, Bella, not just dreams. That was the world in which we fell in love. Just think of it as a destination, like we found each other in a Tropical location."

"Ahem." The sound of someone clearing their throat brought us back into the real world. "As sweet as this is we need to get back on topic." We turned to see the group watching us. Rose's face was envious, Emmett's amused, Jasper grinning, and Alice was happily bouncing in place.

"You two can have some alone time when we get finished with our discussion. I think you both forgot something important. The Baby and what happened to Victoria," she said.

Jasper asked Bella to start from the beginning. "Don't leave even the smallest detail out, a feeling, anything even the tiniest sound could be important."

BPOV

"She attacked me after Alice. I thought she had killed Alice, I was so scared. I mean I hit her with a nine iron." I can hear my voice shake and I am ashamed. I know there isn't a reason to be ashamed that I'm being silly, but I felt so powerless. "I hit her around the upper thigh and it didn't faze her or stop her from coming at me. I turned to run and she grabbed my hair and dragged me toward the couch and threw me down." I look down at my hands and pulled them apart, I was grasping them together so tight I had lost circulation.

Edward hugs me closer against him and whispered that I was safe and okay. Am I, safe that is? Jasper urges me to continue telling my story. He is sitting across from me, his hands are on his knees and he is watching me with such concentration. His power must be in overdrive. I look up at Edward and he smiles and that encourages me, then I continue.

"She wanted to know why Alice was there with me. Then she noticed I was pregnant and got this look on her face. She asked whose spawn I was carrying."

I take a deep breath and continue. "She had one hand on my neck holding me down, she was so strong, and she lifted her other hand in front of my face, she had this look on her face. It was malicious, like she intended to do something so bad, hurt me really, really bad. She started to bring her hand down to my stomach and I grabbed her hand with both of mine trying to keep her away from my baby. ."

"What did you sense Bella?" Jasper asked.

"Evil, she was going to hurt the baby. It would have brought her joy to kill him, to take him from me." I could see him analyzing the information in his head.

"Continue, please."

"I grabbed her hand, kind of pushing against it, and it was like lightning hit her. She froze. Not really, though. Her eyes were moving, but everything else was kind of stuck. Then the pulling started. Ever have a milkshake that is a little too hard? It flattens out the straw at first, but then the heat of your hands around the cup melts it a little, gets it flowing. It felt like that, something pulled and then I felt energy just flowing into me."

"What was she doing while this was happening?"

"When I first grabbed her and she realized she couldn't move it was anger. Her eyes were so angry, and then they got scared. The more the energy flowed, the stronger I felt, and the paler she got. She started looking like a corpse, brittle."

"You're doing very well, Bella," Edward whispered to me. He gave me the strength to finish this horrible tale. I took another deep breath and continued.

"Then it was like a pop, only no noise and we were separated. I fell back on the couch and she collapsed on to me. I pushed her off me and to the floor. She was light, like a mannequin, it was like she was missing what made her alive."

"Was she dead?"

"No, her chest was moving. And her eyes, they were like dried and yellow in the sockets and you could hear them move. I felt hatred still coming off her. She hated me."

"Was she in pain, could you tell?"

"No, all I got from her was hatred and that when she could move again; she really was going to kill me. I killed her. I killed her, I had to." I feel the hysteria creeping up in me.

Jasper stops me, "Shhh… look at me Bella, look in my eyes. Okay, can you do that? We are here with you. No one is going to hurt you. We won't let them." I feel like he is somehow putting me in a trance. "Where did you get the knife Bella?" I feel so calm and answer automatically.

"Grandma. Grandma left it to me in the box."

"What is in your Grandmothers box?"

"In the box is a book on Fairy and Folklore, cold iron filings, a horse shoe, powdered metal, a rail road spike, and some odd black nails." I hear myself saying all this stuff, but I don't know where it's coming from, it's like I have truth serum in my veins. It just spills out of me. "There was this fancy black knife sheath with a jet black knife in it. It has squiggles; Gran would call them ruins on it. I know the symbol for Virgo, it is on the hilt."

Jasper looks at Edward. "That knife isn't from the human world. It has Fey origins."

"How would her family had come into contact with someone with it? Why would one of the Fey give it to her to begin with?" Emmett asks.

"Hell, Edward, the Goddess could have given it to them for all we know." Jasper ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "That knife is known, Edward. That is the knife known as "mortality". That is why Victoria is dead. A normal knife wouldn't have done her in unless Bella would have removed the head. The realm lost that knife ages ago, and it pops up here." He stood and started to pace.

"What about the blood? Why did the blood disappear and my hands feel like they were burning?" They all shared another of those looks.

"It's the babe," Alice said. "It is already manifesting a power."

"How? That usually doesn't happen till puberty," Edward said worriedly. Alice just shrugged. She knew something and wasn't telling.

"Ata Tse, you are my wild card with no loyalties owed to you here in my court." Ata Tse was kneeling at the base of the Queen's dais. He smiles up at this queen anticipating more pain to give more blood and pain for his pleasure to roll in. "I smell something fishy; you will find where the stench is coming from."

Ata Tse bowed low to the Queen, "Yes my Queen."

"When you do, bring them to me. I want them alive, so no playing with them just yet." She laughs softly, dangerously, "You can play with them after We finish with them. I am growing bored of my latest pet." She smiles grimly, and looks at the huddled form at her feet. Leigh sits in a pool of her own dried blood and filth. If you watch closely, you can see wounds healing and flesh growing to replace the missing pieces. But if you look into her mind it is shattered. She understands from the conversation above that the torment will end soon, but the Fae are a long lived people. How long will the dreams of this dark Queen and her terrible amusements haunt her? Where is her Jacob and when will he come for her? Only her Jacob can heal her.

**AN: Thank you sbrande – thanks so much for the beta work. And thanks for listening to all my moaning a bitching…..**

**Southern Update: Ah, fall is here, high 80's in the afternoons and bit of chill at night. Love it! Life here is very busy. The peanuts are being tilled up and harvested so the smell of fresh tilled earth is in the air. The cotton is ready for harvest so the fields look like snow. My pecan crop looks well and I can start harvesting. As soon as the cotton and peanuts are up we will plant the winter grass. I love the cold of winter grass. Walking barefoot in winter grass….you just have to try it. The eighteen wheelers are running up and down our road at all hours. Yes, we harvest well into the night. I need some sort of site/account so I can share photo's and stuff. Any ideas on that?**

**There was a chill in the air around five this morning and it makes me want to go north. I want to see the hot pink leaves in NY and the orange leaves of TN. Fall is my favorite time to travel in the US. **

**Maybe we will do Macy's again this year? If so I will be tromping around NYC with two shopaholics, pray for me. We need to go back anyway; the bastard took all my damn vacation videos….**

**Rec List:**

**Cutestkidsmom - ****Bare All**. I squeal like a silly twit when an update hits my email. It just makes me HAPPY. No excuse, just read it. Guys, I have swapped several PM's with this lady, and she is AMAZING. She is starting another fic called **About a Boy** and after reading chapter one I am obsessed with it. The characters are intriguing and the subject is one I'm interested in learning more about. Keep an eye on it and tell her I sent you!

**HachimansKitsune - The Thirteenth Rider**. This isn't Twilight, its Labyrinth but my breath catches every time I see an update on my email. It's sexy as hell and you can cut the tension with a knife. Hey, read it and give the genre a chance. When I get frustrated with slow updates I tootle over to visit my friends in the Labyrinth world.

**content1 - Sins of My Past **This is a long one but so well written. It's addictive so don't start this one if you have to get up say around 5AM. Believe me I looked at the clock last night and it was reading 12:42 and it pissed me off that I had to put it down so I could get up for work today. Life sucks – read fanfiction!


	12. Chapter 12

FR CH11

AN: Sorry for the delay guys. Harvesting is almost over and this year is a bust. It is a very bad year for pecans. By now I should have the money for my land taxes and Christmas in the bank. This year my pecans are molded and rotten in the shell. I have maybe a quarter that's good enough to sell. Disgusting! So I really haven't been in the correct frame of mind to write. I promise that I haven't lost interest in the story. I have copious notes everywhere; scraps of paper, voice notes, notes on my computer, and a couple of napkins in my purse with scribbles on them. I will finish this just be patient.

I'm tired of the spiel so for the final time I don't own it. Wish I did then maybe I would have a savings account that wasn't laughable.

This chapter is dedicated to Gran. Lady, I miss you so much. You brought history to life. I walked with you through your memories (learned from her Gran) of the Civil War (TWONA), the great depression years she went through as a child, and wild nights in Biloxi during WWII when she was in her 20's. Gran was an amazing story teller and she really lived life. Funny thing is the woman could never sit still long enough to read a book to its finish or watch TV longer than a few minutes at a time. I think she had a massive case of adult ADD. It's funny how she pops up in every multi chapter fic I write.

Chapter 11

_She walks through the pine forest quietly; the noise muffled by sand and the longleaf pine needles on the forest floor. Occasionally her hand will outstretch to run a finger down the blade of a saw palmetto frond. Above her, the sunlight is muted by the tall pines and glistens down to her in sparkling beams. The noise of the birds is the only sound intruding on her quiet walk. There are no outside noises, no planes above, no ATV's, no cars; nothing to disturb the calm walk through the forest._

_Her feet are bare and she is careful to only step on pine needles and sand. The occasional briar is stepped over or dodged. Her dress is a flowing white sundress and she is thankful that the heat is not yet oppressive. The heat of the deep summer is only manageable by taking breaks in over conditioned air. This day however is perfect, perfect sunshine, perfect temperature, and perfect serenity._

_Up ahead she can see a break in the trees. A moment more and she is there covering her eyes from the glare of the sun. The clearing is a precise circle as if God put his bow compass down and drew an exact circle. Within the clearing the grass is green and lush with wildflowers beckoning her closer in the gentle breeze. There are black eyed Susan's with their eye popping yellow and dark black center. She sees clumps of dotted horse mint with small dense packed pinkish flowers and green speckles. She tries to remember the other plant names and can only identify Gayfeather, Ironweed, and Tickseed. There are more, but they don't come to her._

_She walks toward the center of the clearing picking a few black eyed Susan's as she goes. Every girl needs daises to pull petals from and ask if he loves you or loves you not. Who is the one she will be pulling petals for? She can see him in her mind's eye and he is supposed to be here also. Where is he? She reaches the center of the circle and upon the grass neatly laid out is a picnic blanket, but it's not the traditional picnic blanket, this one is an eggshell white with a ring pattern sewn into it. There is a brownish red stain in the middle of this quilt. And she thinks, 'Oh my, Gran will be shocked that I am using a stained quilt for our picnic, how embarrassing.'_

"_Bella, my dear, help me with this basket,' her Gran calls from behind her. She turns and there is her Gran smiling in a blue gingham dress. She is carrying a large basket, heavy with food, and Gran strains to hold it in her arthritic hands. _

"_Here, let me take that Gran, I'm sorry my head seems to be so far in the clouds I'm losing my manners." She hurriedly takes it from her Gran and places it atop the stain on the quilt. 'Out of site out of mind,' she thinks to herself._

"_Quickly lay it all out Bella; we have so little time for what I need to tell you." Gran slowly lowers her frame to the quilt as I open the basket and busy myself putting food on plates. Inside fried chicken, corn and biscuits, are nestled neatly near a container full of iced sweet tea. "We have someone else coming, but I think they shalll be late, they will understand if we go ahead. Say the grace my dear."_

_I quickly bow my head and repeat a prayer that has been repeated over and over by our family for generations. I hand Gran her plate heaped with food. She takes it, settling it upon her lap before looking up at me and asking, "So have you been reading the book I left you?" I pick up my glass and sipped the sweet tea before answering; its cold sweetness feels so good on my parched tongue. I stare at the condensation on my glass for a moment and then put it down near my plate. _

"_Yes Gran, I'm still reading it. I was shocked when I used one of the nails to break the fairy glamor. It took all I had to keep a straight face."_

"_They can paint themselves so pretty can't they?" She looks at my stomach which is great now with my child. " And what of your Fae Prince, is he handsome?"_

_I look down at my belly and rub it. My smile is wistful when I look back up at her. "Yes Gran, he's very handsome."_

"_Good, but know this my sweet, not all things are pretty as the package they come in. You saw that with Victoria."_

_I shudder at the memory of the malicious red head. "I don't want to think of her Gran, let's just enjoy our meal for a while," I say looking at her. For a moment she isn't the sweet granny I remember. Her eyes narrow to slits and she puts her plate down. I almost fear the look she is giving me. She moves quickly, so fast that I don't even see the movement and she is leaning over me with her hand gripping my jaw tight and staring dead into my eyes. This isn't my granny!_

_A voice comes from her and it is a multitude of all female voices, all speaking at the same time. __**"Child bearer, daughter of humanity, now is not the time to shirk responsibility. My people have lost their way and you are the key to bring them back."**__ Then her eyes are normal and it's my Gran sitting across from me eating daintily with her linen napkin in her lap as if nothing happened. I'm shaken, but I try to hide that from Gran._

_I clear a suddenly dry throat. "Yes Gran I have been studying the book and you know, your knife saved my life," I reply and then ask, "Where ever did you get such a strange knife?"_

"_By a Clootie Well, as I was hanging a rag." What? I raise an eyebrow and look at her for an explanation. What the hell is a Clootie Well?_

"_Clootie Well?" I inquire._

"_Yes, the well in Cornwall, England. I think the name was Madron. Oh it's romantic and silly, but my dear mother believed the stories. You tie a rag to a hawthorn and make your wish. The area is littered with rags tied to anything they can tie something to. Well, there was I not twenty but by a month and on my honeymoon. My new husband, your grandpa, was in the car napping. _

_Your grandpa was a good hard working man with not one romantic bone in his body." She sighs at the memory of grandpa, "I had pulled the branch of a hawthorn down and was using a bit of my slip that I had ripped off when this lovely young lady stepped from behind a tree." I can slightly hear her accent peeking through._

"_Magic, was she __**Other**__ Gran?" I stress the word other, Gran knows what I mean. Her eyebrow raises a bit and she smiles._

"_Oh yes she was Other. You couldn't really look her in the eye; she was just sort of unclear. And a funny thing, she kept changing. One second she was young, next you would see a matron or maybe a crone. But it was only her face, you see, that face that you couldn't really look at. Her face was blurry, but you knew it was never stagnate, it changed. She was dressed funny, not for the English weather. Her clothes were filmy, ethral, they kinda blew in a wind that wasn't there if you know what I mean._

_Her eyes are distant looking into the past, "Her voice, it was musical and it echoed in my head. It was like dozens of voices on top of each other, all saying the same thing. Well, she stepped from behind a tree and said my name as if she knew me from my birth onward. And she talked to me like we were conversing over my neighbor's fence. She had a strange, a very strange air to her." Gran shivered at the memory. _

"_She told me that I was to be of use to her and my first thought was that maybe that wasn't a good thing. She talked of my future child and how the magic would skip her." _

"_Mom?" I ask, shocked at this revelation. _

"_Your mother is touched my dear, but it isn't by magic." She smiles at that. Yes, mom is just a little bit touched. You could call her flakey at best._

"_She told me that my Granddaughter would have strong magic hiding inside her. She was speaking of you my dear. She said that you would carry the redemption of the Fae and give birth to a Queen conceived in a fairy ring. Her name would cause the realm to fear and rejoice. She would be known as the Emerald Queen__.__"_

_I place my hand on my stomach, a daughter! I'm having a girl as decreed by Goddess. What will my child see in her life time? A Queen feared and equally loved? I rub my protruding belly and think of Edward's eyes, his eyes of swirling emerald. Our daughter will have his eyes._

_I bring the conversation back to the knife. "What did she say about the knife Gran?" I ask__,__ but Gran seems to be distracted by something over my shoulder. Her smile gets big and I turn my head to see what is bringing such a happy grin to Grans face. It's Edward! He is in the tree line and lifts his arm high to wave to us and starts walking toward us and the picnic. We wave in return to his greeting. I get out a plate and start pulling food from containers for him._

"_I think your young man is very handsome Bella." Edward is almost to us. He is dressed in human clothes, a white button down shirt and dark jeans. He looks like he just walked out of a frat house. I put the plate I have fixed for him down and Gran puts hers to the side and we rise to greet him as he approaches. Gran is slow getting up, so I help her._

_He is smiling as he comes to me and takes me in his arms. Looking down at me places a chaste sweet kiss on my lips. He looks deep into my eyes and smiles then turns to Gran. "Nice to meet you Mam, I am Edward, Bella's husband."_

_Gran doesn't say anything to the announcement that we are married, just smiles at the two of us and pulls Edward into her arms for a long hug. "I've been waiting a long time for you young man." She pulls away. "That baby will be a beauty between the two of you." _

"_Let's have a seat and eat while we can," she says and Edward helps her back to her place on the blanket. When he gets her settled he then helps me down, which isn't easy with our child hindering my balance. When I am settled, he plops down beside me. I envy his ease of movement. I feel so ungainly with this huge stomach in front of me. His eyes meet mine and then look down at the quilt; he runs his hand across the pattern and looks at me with a secret smile. I can't help blushing, blood floods my face as I realize where the quilt was used last. _

"_Ah young lovers, it's such a sweet thing to see__,__" Gran says as she looks at us. Edward pulls my hand to his lips and places a quick kiss on my knuckles. "You found yourself a very handsome gentleman Bella. You did well." I smile at her approval._

"_May I call you Gran?" Edward can charm the fuzz off a peach. Gran smirks at him and then gives him a big grin. _

"_Why yes you may young man. I would be offended if you didn't__.__" She smiles proudly at his manners. _

_We talked casually for what seemed an hour more. I know it's just a dream__,__ but it's something that I have missed so much so I greedily make it last. As I gather our picnic items I listen to Gran describe to Edward the items she had collected for me in the box. I look up as Edward asks her about the knife to see that her eyes have gone black again and her carriage has changed from that of my Gran to the Goddess again. _

"_**Unseelie Prince your babe nears its birth and the danger grows with her quickening. Guard your woman and the babe well while you can**__**,**__** but prepare a champion to guard her when she is to begin her journey. All but your trusted few will be tempted and coerced to turn from you and destroy your mate and child." **__The multi layered voices linger and still._

_Edward nodded solemnly to the goddess and she turns her black eyes upon me at his gesture of compliance._

"_**Child bearer, keep the knife I have provided for you with you at all times. It will save your life. Trust the teachings of your grandmother and use her knowledge well. It will be all you have to defend yourself. **_

_**Your child hungers, do not hesitate to feed her. Feel no shame in doing so, it is her life you kill for. Trust in this child's will to live. She is strong and knows her path**__.__**" **_

_My eyes must be big as saucers. I'm terrified__,__ but at least this thing, this Goddess seems to have a use for me. I wrap my hands around my belly protectively. _

I awaken in Edward arms. He opens his eyes and I am trapped in there swirling green depths. His eyes are so beautiful. Our daughter. I smile up at him, but can't help to squirm. He grins down at me know exactly what the problem is.

"Don't laugh at my bladder mister," I say in a semi grumpy voice. He rolls over and gets out of the bed and walks to my side to help me out. "I should punch you or something every time she stomps on my bladder."

That gets a genuine laugh from him. I walk to the bathroom and let nature take over. Finishing I wash my hands and return to our bed room. He is standing patiently by the bed and helps me into it. I sit on the side of the bed and we just kiss for a moment before I pull back and ask, "Were you in that dream with me?"

"Yes." Is all he says pulling me back into the kiss. Horny man, doesn't he think the dream was important?

"Well?" I pull back again wanting his input on the dream. He just moves his lips to the hollow of my neck. I give up when he does this. This man distracts me so easily.

I think they call this nesting. I have, with the help of everyone, cleaned this house from top to bottom. It is spotless. I can't help myself, the urge is just so strong. Speaking of strong, she kicks me again. It's so strange to see a little foot outline on my belly. She does what I call skating, she will kick out and just slide the foot down the walls of her cramped chamber. It is uncomfortable, but enchanting to watch. Discomfort sends me racing toward the bathroom. She likes to bounce on my bladder like it is a trampoline.

I am scared, but who wouldn't be. Unlike other first time mothers my fears are a little deeper. My child is a hybrid of human and Fae. What will she be like? Alice and Edward have explained to me of the speed that the Fae child grows. This terrifies me. Will my little one adjust to this speedy growth or will the speed damage the human side of her? I have to look to the Goddess and think that since so much is hanging on this tiny babe all will go well with the birth. It gives me minimum comfort, but I take what I can.

Whenever I put the new birth and hybrid child fears aside I remember that I have killed one of the Fae. When it is found out, and it will eventually be, someone is going to want me to be held accountable for that. In defence of my baby or not, someone will be out for blood. Edward and the others tell me not to worry, but I have heard pieces of their conversations so I know there is something to fear. Victoria was one of the favorites of the Queen's and she will send someone to find her. A missing guard to the Queen will not be ignored for long.

I can't put it off like Scarlet, I have to be prepared so I have taken the Goddess' word for law. I have two back packs ready to go at a moment's notice. One for me and one for whomever my guardian may be. In them are things I will need for the birth and things I may need to defend us both. I carry my knife with me at all times in a black leather sheath hooked to these large pregnancy jeans. I feel so huge! I struggle to get my shoes on. Doing anything now days is a battle with this belly.

I have a nail sewn into my bra strap to protect me from Fey Glamor. Finishing my defense plan is a pouch of the metal powder in my pocket. I have stashed little bowls of the powder in the window sills for a quick grab if needed.

Edward is only here once or twice a week. He would be here more, but the Queen is suspicious of everyone. She is desperate to find Victoria. I listened to Jasper report to Edward of her efforts to find her. She put someone called James on the hunt for her and that seemed to upset the others a great deal. At night one of the guys patrols the outside perimeter of the yard and one of the women will stay in with me. Very rarely am I ever left alone for more than a few hours.

"James, report!' The queen shouts to her guard kneeling before her.

"I have exhausted all options here in court my Queen, I must assume she is somewhere in the human realm."

The Queen saunters down the stairs from her dais. The lights from the torches glow against her moonlight white skin. She is clad in a black bustier and black leather pants. Black spike heeled boots reach over her knees and midway up her thighs. Standing before James, she motions for him to stand and places one hand upon his chest.

"James," she says in a seductive purr, leaning close to his ear. Her other hand caresses the hair on the back of his neck. "If you do not find me my Victoria, I will make you my next playmate." She runs her hand down his chest and cups his leather covered cock rubbing him through his pants. His eyes close in pleasure and her answering smile is deadly. Her fist clenches on him and she literally has his nuts in a clawed vice. His eyes open and all pleasure is gone from his face. "Find Victoria if you value your manhood James, because if you don't I will add your cock to my collection, and it won't be attached. It will be in a fucking jar!"

She releases her hand from his genitals and turns back toward the dais. Smiling maliciously, she mounts the stairs and slithers onto her throne. To the side of the dais sits Lord Eastwick on a gilded chair smaller and less ornate than the queens. He is being serviced by Leah. He grips her hair tightly forcing himself deeper into her unwilling mouth. Her hands are clenched and she does what she has to do to live. Live until Jake comes for her.

It's been two weeks since I have seen Edward in this realm. He visits me in dreams every night and we make sweet love and talk. He rubs my belly and talks to our girl. I'm surprised my stomach isn't shinny from the polishing I receive from his hand. But then again it is only a dream. Sometimes I wake and try to figure out if I'm still in the dream or reality.

The guards in the woods have increased. Jasper told me that they are men belonging to one of Edwards' friends. I have yet to see them, but I feel their presence. It prickles on my skin and sometimes I feel someone watching me from the tree line as I stare out a window.

I was told by Emmett and Jasper that it is best not to be seen by these men. They called them Slouagh. I read in Grans book that they are even darker than the Unseelie and are the stuff of nightmares. I don't need any more nightmares so I'll do as the guys demand and stay in the house.

I feel so heavy and ungainly. I swear I waddle and don't get me started on these granny panties. To top off my feelings of inferiority tonight is Rose's turn to stay the night with me. There is nothing better than pairing up a very pregnant woman with someone who looks like a supermodel. It grinds your ego like glass in the eye. It wouldn't be so bad if she could only be friendly. But it's icy Rose, she never thaws.

When Alice stays we watch movies and gorge on popcorn. With Rose its silence and a movie. I quit attempting to talk to her after the second night of her ignoring everything I said. I wish I had some of the chocolate exlax squares. I would give it to her for her terminal constipation.

Pregnant women eat weird stuff and I have happily joined the crowd. I have discovered two new ways to eat popcorn. One night I was possessed by the need for something spicy so I drowned my popcorn in Crystal Hot Sauce. It was wonderful, until I finished the bag. I spent the rest of the night eating Tums like candy and the next morning wishing for anything but this burning ass. My next popcorn combination is pickles and popcorn. I'm pregnant so pickles had to come in there somewhere. Don't knock it till you try it. But that is my limit with the pickle combo. No pickles and ice cream for me.

Tonight's movie is 'The Notebook'. I've seen it before, but try watching it with pregnancy hormones running through your brain. I'm a blubbering mess thirty minutes into it. I wonder if Rose has any emotions besides the permanent constipated look on her face? If the guys were here I might ask her that, but since they are not here its best that I don't.

I don't know what catches her attention, but suddenly she is across the room and looking from the side of the curtain into the back yard. Leaning over she removes a gun from a thigh holster.

"Rose what is it?" I ask worriedly. All she does is hold up a hand to silence me. I struggle to get off the couch. When I do I walk toward her, but she stops me with a gesture. Now I am really worried. My hand goes to the knife in its sheath. I wish I had a gun. I know how to use one. Why didn't they give me a gun? My anxious thoughts are silenced when Rose pulls back from the window and grabs me by the arm and drags me toward my bedroom. Rose looks scared, and my anxiety amps up.

"The wards have been breached! The others will be on the way but it will take a while for them to get here." She pulls me into the room and slams the door and locks it. Gripping me by the arm she walks quickly to the closet. She faces me at the door and as she speaks to me she jerks my arm, like shaking me will make what she has to say sink in better. "Get in the closet and do not come out! I don't care what you hear do not come out!"

"What is it?"

"This isn't the time Bella. Get in the closet now. I can hear them fighting in the woods! If the guards in the woods fail they will be here soon and I'm the only one standing between your baby and them." With that I willingly step into the closet and shut the door.

Damn it! My back packs are not with me they are beside my bedroom door. All I have with me is the knife and some of the powdered cold iron. If I could get whoever comes for me in the eyes, I might get past them and be able to run. Edward help me! Hurry please.

There is a loud noise from the kitchen. The kitchen door sounds like it has been ripped off the wall. I hear two distinct voices, excited and angry. They are going room to room and it sounds like they are destroying whatever gets in their way as they search. My heart is pounding in my ears and I hide in the corner of my closet behind my hanging clothes. I can't breathe. My bedroom door is kicked in and I hear them fighting with Rose. They are taunting her. I hear one man go down by Rose's gun. After the blast there is a scuffle and I hear the gun go sliding across the floor. The other guy taunts Rose. He is an evil bastard. The filth spilling from his mouth sickens me and maybe I now understand why Rose is such a bitch.

"Oh sweet little Rose, I remember you Seelie Princess." His oily voice mocks her. "Remember the night the Queen rewarded me with a taste of you? You were so tight; your ass squeezed my cock like a vise. Mmmm the heat. I think I might like a taste of you again before I bring you back to the Queen."

Rose does not reply to the taunts, but the sound of the struggle that follows is a violent battle. Why isn't she using her power? He laughs at her and then I hear a cry and Rose slamming into my dresser. The silence is startling, such violence and then nothing. I hear a body land on my bed and the sound of ripping clothing. Oh please God, please don't make me listen to this. I can't help it I am not letting this fiend rape Rose. I tiptoe to the door and ready myself for a fight that I am very sure I won't win.

I reach in my pocket and palm some of the powder. With my other hand I grasp the handle of my knife and prepare myself for battle. I make a sound to distract the bastard from his defilement of Rose. 'Steady Bella, keep your head.' I sike myself up as I hear the bed squeak as he gets out of it. Footsteps come closer to the door. 'Please Edward hurry!' I pray for him to come save me, but until I see him, I have to fight for myself. I bring my handful of powder close to my face as I watch the door handle turn. The door opens and I take a deep breath and as I look deep into sky blue eyes I blow with all the strength I have into the bastards face.

He screams like a girl and grips his face. I don't wait, I push him back and slice at him with my knife. It opens a long cut in his right arm. His blood flows from the cut and he pulls his left hand from his eyes and grips the gash on his right arm. I push past him and rush from the closet to the music of his screams. Rose is on the bed, out cold. Her top is torn open exposing her breasts. You could see that he was attempting to rip her jeans when he heard me in the closet. I turn towards the blond man and my anger boils over.

"You sick son of a bitch."

He pulls his hands from his eyes and looks at me with contempt. The eyes are still blue, but the whites are blood red. What looks like blood tears are pouring from his eyes. His skin looks pockmarked and raw from the larger chunks of powder that must have ate their way into his skin.

"I'm going to kill you slowly bitch. But first I'm going to cut that baby from your body." He makes his way toward me. My anger is flowing through my body like electricity. My body hums with it. Come and get me asshole.

He goes to grab me, but I get to him first. I grab his hand and it's just like Victoria. It's like a bolt of lightning has hit him and he is frozen. I smile as the pulling begins.

I moan with the feeling, it's so good. "I guess it isn't your day asshole. Mm mm you are sooo tasty. And I have to admit I was feeling a mite peckish." I giggle as the flow of power quickens, sucking, pulling, eating him alive. His eyes are not angry any more, they are scared. His skin is losing its glow and his face is starting to hollow out. His muscular arms are losing definition.

A moment more and he is a shell with dry desiccated eyes moving sickly in their hollows. His body weighs hardly anything and I let him fall to the floor. I follow him down and straddle his body. Smiling I pull my knife out of its sheath and bring if close to his face so he can get a good look at his fate. I twist the blade in front of his eyes and let it catch the light. I want this monster to suffer, I want him to fear me.

I put the point under his chin and lean down close to him. I want him looking into a woman's eyes as he dies. "I don't know if your kind has a hell, but I want you to bust it wide open. Go to hell fucker!" I slam the knife up into his skull. To make sure his is dead I pull the knife from his skull as the blood flows freely from the wound. I position the knife underneath his rib cage and point it upward. I forcefully push it up into his heart. Why take the effort to go through the rib cage, he isn't fighting it so I took an easy short cut. I pull the knife from his body. Awkwardly I stand and I wipe the blood off of the blade and on to my pants. I feel all sloshy inside like I have gulped down a very large drink.

I look down at my blood covered hands and wonder if it's going to happen again. I hold them up in front of my eyes as they begin to burn and I watch as the blood sinks into my skin. I start to shake and whimper. What is happening to me? What just happened wasn't me! All that anger, I'm not a vindictive person. So much has changed. I turn to rush from the room only to find the rescuers have arrived too late. They stand behind me in the doorway with startled looks on their faces. How much did they see? My hands are still shaking in front of me. There is blood splattered on me everywhere with the exception of my hands they look as if I had just washed them.

Emmett pushes through and rushes to Rose on the bed pulling her unresisting body into his embrace. He looks at me with a look that asks if he did something to her. I shake my head meaning no that he didn't get all the way.

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't stay in the closet; he was going to rape her." My voice is shaking. She starts to come to on the bed, I am thankful that she was only knocked out and not dead.

"Edward, I did it again." I take a step toward him as my world goes dim and he catches me as I fall.

_AN:_

_**Play List**_

_Life house – Between the Rain Drops_

_Muse - Madness_

**Story rec's for the month. **

**The Purple Banana Hammock -TheFicChick** It's a one shot that was rec'd on Fictionators. Look them and this one up, it's worth it.

**Bare All and Because of a Boy - cutestkidsmom** Two stories from this author. Bare All is almost complete and the other is a WIP. Check them out. I am addicted to her work and you can blame her for some of my delays! I also have review envy, LOL.

**Destiny, Whether You Like It Or Not - BetterinTexas** This is a wonderful adventure story.

16

16 


	13. Chapter 13

_AN: I have had the worst case of writers block ever. Every time I open up my laptop and start to write another bad thing happens and puts me into another funk. _

SM owns it, I don't. Wish I did then maybe I would have a savings account that wasn't laughable and I wouldn't be so frigging depressed at the moment.

Thanks to Sbrande for being the bestist Beta and friend. Dix for her frequently damp shoulder, sorry toots. Thanks to** Hoodfabulous** you don't know it but you kept me smiling on a very dark day. (Check her out guys, she is an amazing author) Sorry it took so long for this one but if you read the AN at the bottom it will tell you why I've been under a rock.

**COMING TO**

I came to lying on the couch with my head cradled in Edward's lap. He stroked my hair while talking with the others. Emmett held Rose on the love seat wrapped in a heavy quilt. She was glassy eyed with shock, and he held her in the cocoon of his strong arms. I guess the Fae can go into shock just like us lowly humans. I don't blame her really, what happened scared the hell out of me too.

They didn't notice that my eyes were cracked so I did my best to keep still and keep my breathing regular. I knew that they kept secrets from me. Hell, there was something new it seemed popping up every day. I was going to flush out every secret I could one way or another.

"Again, Strega?" Jasper asked, pacing the length of the room. Alice sat on a cushion by the hearth.

"No, it's different," Alice replied, "I am older than the lot of you so I can say I've seen a Strega and she is not one of those."

"What is different?" Emmett asked as he brushed hair from Roses cheek.

"Strega suck the life from their victims almost like a vampire drains the victim of blood. A vampire can't kill us just put us out for a while. A Strega will drain a victim of all they are, their energy and their life leaving a brittle shell. They are faster draining a human, we take a little while longer, but in the end we all end up the same, dead. Bella didn't take their life; she didn't suck them completely dry either. Whatever this power is it stopped before killing them."

Emmett said, "Well she did kill them with that knife of hers, but this, this is beyond that." He shook his head, baffled with the mystery. Emmett was a fun loving, just the facts sort of guy.

Alice thought for a moment, and then said with a faraway look in her eye, "Each of our powers had to be blooded in combat as an offering to Deity so we can keep them. Well, this is the second time she absorbed the blood."

"Strega don't absorb the blood! The draining they do is not a given power from the Deity; it's just part of their genetic makeup," Jasper said excitedly. "So why did she? Do you think she is taking more than the energy? Is it the baby?" he asked with a puzzled look. You could almost see him organizing facts and theories in his mind.

"Maybe, but I don't think we have seen it all yet," Alice said looking at me. She smiled then before giving me a wink. "You can quit faking sleep Bella."

"Busted, sorry, I was just trying to hear if you knew something and wasn't telling me." I started to try to sit up and had to have Edward's help. "I'm tired of secrets," I said, a little short of breath. The baby was pushing everything up and it felt like she had shrunk my air supply.

"How do you feel?" Edward asked looking down at me concern marred across his forehead. He pulled me close and wrapped his arms tight around me. He buried his face in my hair and took a deep breath. His arms squeezed me a little tighter and then loosened. He was shook up, but was hiding it well.

"Don't think I'm sick when I say this, but I feel good, full, not food full though. I feel full of energy and vigor," I tell them as they watch me. Edwards's arms tighten around me protectively and one hand slips under my shirt to caress my rounded belly. I feel movement and smile up at him. "I think she feels better also."

Jaspers head popped up and he looked at me. "Yes, she just got a big meal, she should be feeling fine." He looked toward Alice, "Could it be the hungry hand?" Alice's eyes glazed for a moment then she focused on him and nodded.

"Ok, here you go with that hand stuff again. I'm so confused, does this shit come with an owner's manual or a cliff notes version?" I asked, but they ignored me.

"That hasn't been seen for over three thousand years."

"Ahem, I asked a question." They just continue.

"I was just a small child," Alice said looking at him. "But I remember talk of that. Oleg the Cruel welded that hand of power."

"Human in the house. Woo hoo, are you listening to me?" I waived one arm about for the effect. If they didn't start explaining something I was going to pull out my inner Catherine Tate and give them an "I'm not bothered routine" that would piss the whole lot off. Wait! "Did you just say you're fucking three thousand years old Alice?"

"Not the issue at the moment Bella," Alice said. "The issue is that we think you have a hand of power like us."

"How is that possible Alice?"

Jasper stopped pacing and spoke up. "Your baby actually has the hand of power and she is wielding it through you, Bella." He looked at me thoughtfully. "We already know that this was brought about by Goddess." He shrugged, "All things are possible."

"Yes, and you don't question Deity," Emmitt quipped. "Do that and the really bad shit shows up."

"Bad shit Emmitt, really, I'm sucking people up like a milk shake!" I answered sarcastically.

"Regardless," Jasper brought us back to the subject. "This is a formidable power. You need discipline to wield it." He began pacing again. "This child at a very early age is going to have powers beyond what we have ever seen. This power in a child," he shook his head at what ever thought he was having. "A small child has no concept of right or wrong. She could become a killing machine."

He was starting to sound like someone I should protect my daughter from. I tensed up. I thought to myself that if he comes at me with the intention of harming my child I would do my best to suck him dry before he hurt my baby. Friend would become foe very quick.

"No Jasper. The power is defensive. She is using it to protect and feed herself it at the moment. This is just temporary." I had a feeling that she wasn't telling all, but Alice never did tell all. You had to drag it out of her.

"And," I asked. "What else did you see in your crystal ball Alice?"

"She wields the powers she takes." Everyone came alert at that. "No two powers are the same remember. Oleg could strip you of your powers and yes it did give him a charge. He used people like his own personal battery charger for his other hand of power. "

"What else, Alice?"

"I saw the baby pulling power from someone and then turning around and using it on them."

Jasper stopped pacing and turned to Alice. "Assuming that is what she does. Do you think Bella can do the same until the child is born?"

"The same?" Edward asked. 'What do you mean?"

"Yes, pull the powers and use them. Remember she was blooded twice now by Deity. Both Victoria and James had two powers. What if she could harness those powers? At least it would mean Bella could protect herself better."

"Alice?" Edward looked to Alice for conformation to the question. Her eyes glazed for a moment and then cleared. She nodded in the affirmative.

Edward looked at Jasper. "It will help her protect herself when we are not there to do so."

"Yes, it will come in handy. What were James and Victoria's powers?"

"Victoria could shatter bone or organs with her hand of power; I don't know what she called it though. Her other hand of power was elusion. She could loose someone that was tracking her if it was needed.

We were startled by Roses voice. "James gifts were tracking and terror. He could find you no matter where you hid. He also could make you see and feel horrible things that weren't really there or he would do something really horrible to you and amplify the terror of it."

"I'm so sorry Rose." I whispered.

"No Bella," Rose whispered, "You revenged me very well I thought."

Emmett snorted, "Yep, she did a number on him. So, if she gets each of their powers she now has four, no five powers." He ticked them off on his fingers and named each. "Eluding, shattering of bone and organ, tracking, and the ability to make someone feel or see terrible things. Plus the Hungry Hand which sucks away powers like a vacuum."

It made me dizzy thinking of it. But what did Alice say, "Wait one damn minute, what do you mean when you aren't there to protect me? Where am I going?" I asked in a panic.

"Bella, you just killed a second member of the Queens guards. There were three with him also killed by the guards. The Queen was in a panic over Victoria missing. When James and the other men don't return it's going to put her over the edge," Edward said. "She will be watching all of the court, looking for traitors. I am the next in line and her biggest threat so we will be watched even more than the rest."

Jasper took over for him, "The trackers will follow them here. It will take a while, maybe a week or two, but we need to move now."

Edward turned me to look me in the eye. "We have to destroy everything here Bella, the trackers will get the scent and follow if we don't."

"How can you get rid of all trace of us?"

"Magic and fire, but it will only destroy the scent of the individual. There will still be a trace of Fae here."

"Oh shit, how will I explain to Mom and Phil that I had to burn their house down? I'm so going to jail if I do something like that!" The thought just threw me into a panic.

Edward exchanged a look with the others and then looked at me. The look was apologetic. Alice got up and sat beside us, and leaned in, "Bella honey, you can't explain anything to anyone."

"But, look I can't just," I said starting to argue, but she looked at me and her eyes were so sad. "Oh, no, the dream." My heart quickened as I remember the Goddess speaking to Edward through the image of my grandmother. "To start my journey she said, she didn't say I was going to come back did she?" I turned from Alice to Edward and I couldn't stop the tears from falling.

I buried my head in Edwards's chest and let him comfort me the best he could. "Bella, I have a friend that I trust, he is going to hide you for a little while with his people. Honey, you need to say good bye to your parents." That's when I lost it. I know we are not a close family but they were always a phone call away if I needed them.

I brought my tears under control after a while. They were patient with me and I tried to think of details. My brain felt groggy though, so I didn't know how clear I was going to be. "Guys, are we going to fake my death or what? I can tell you now my dad will never stop looking for me if there is the slightest chance he thinks I'm alive."

Jasper said. "That will be no problem. Alice is going to make a changeling to take your place."

"Ok that stumped me, but you know there is a little more to it than a matching face. Anyway, I can't condone the murder of someone for me."

"It is not a person Bella, a changeling isn't a real being. In olden days when a Fae would take a child and he would replace it with a changeling, something that was so similar that it would not be questioned. The thing would die soon after the switch so the child's death would never be blamed on us. I promise it will match down to the dental records and DNA." After he said that I let it alone. There was just too much to think of.

"Bella," Alice asked, "Is there anything you want from the house? We can hide it for later. Just think on it and we will handle it for you. Ok?" She gave me a hug; Alice and Jasper were going back to court that night. They said their good byes at the door and we turned to look at the other two. Emmett still held Rose, but she was much calmer now. They said their goodnights also and made their way to bed.

Not long after that Edward and I went to bed. We made slow love and afterward he held me as more tears came.

E

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E

It was time for me to say good bye without actually saying good bye. I thought it out in my room for an hour. Edward said we had at least two days before we had to go, so I needed to call mom and dad. I needed closure for myself, to hear their voices one last time before I left this world for the others.

Alice had to create my doppelganger and we were waiting for Jake, the Slouagh prince to show up. I couldn't put it off any longer, I had to make the calls. This was going to be hard if not impossible. I thought of young women in the age when they were married off and sent away never to see their home again and thought that this was somewhat similar. I was leaving my home, my world for Edward and our child.

I picked up the phone and called dad first. It was around twelve thirty there so he would be back at the station so I called that number. After two rings he answered. I took a deep breath and prayed for strength. Please don't let me start crying. If I did dad would be on the next plane heading my way.

"Forks Police Department, Chief Swan speaking," he answered in his usual gruff voice.

"Daddy, hi."

"Bella, hey honey, how is Florida treating you?" I could hear him shuffling papers before the squeak of his chair alerted me to his reclining in it and then the thump of his feet hitting the desk. I have walked into dad's office many a day with him kicked back in that chair and on the phone with one of his fishing buddies. I wish I had a picture of that. I smiled at the memory.

"It's hot and humid Dad. You know the drill down here. Breathe water, dodge hurricanes. How is it going there?"

We talked for several minutes of the weather and our normal little lives. He hinted that he was getting serious with Sue his longtime girlfriend. I thought it was about time and told him so. When it was time to go I could feel my throat start to close and the tears begin.

"I miss you dad."

"Everything ok down there Bella?" he asks suspiciously.

"Yes daddy, I just miss being a kid at home some time. Life was so much simpler then you know." I pulled that one out of the hat and when his tone changed I knew I was in the clear. We said our good byes and as soon as I hung up the phone I collapsed into tears. I just told my dad good bye for the last time, in a week he will think I died in a house fire. The tears poured out of me till I felt as if my body had lost all of its moisture.

The bed dipped and small hands wrapped around me. "Shhh honey, it will be ok." Alice comforted me the best she could. I fell asleep in her arms and for once didn't dream.

I awoke the next morning with swollen dry eyes. I dreaded that this was the day to call my mom. I didn't know how I would make this call. I put it off for later and after my morning shower the kitchen beckoned to me. I needed food, preferably strawberry muffins with lots of butter.

E

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E

It was a fourteen hour difference between me and where mom and Phil are living. Unlike mom, I would always try to call at a decent hour. If I had my time straight it should be around ten p.m. there. I couldn't put it off any longer and picked up the phone, took a deep breath and dialed the number.

"Bella!" my mom excitedly greeted me. "Hi honey I was just getting ready to call you." She was breathless and I wondered what she had been doing. Well maybe I didn't want to know. She and Phil had been married for years and sometime I think the honeymoon was still going on. It was one of the reasons I moved to Forks to be with dad. There is nothing more traumatizing to a teenage girl than staring down your Lucky Charms in the morning because you really don't want to look your mom and step dad in the face because you heard everything they did the night before. We had a split bedroom floor plan and I still heard her. Can you say 'howler'?

"I was almost arrested tonight." I smiled and sat back against my head board. This was going to be a long call.

"I'm almost scared to ask, what happened?"

"I just got a phone call that Phil and I have been waiting for. I was so excited I ran outside without my clothes, I had just got out of the shower! I don't think the neighbors know what to think of the crazy Americans!" She is breathy and excited. It's just mom, crazy, happy mom.

"Ok are you sitting down?" she asked.

"Yes, why?" Uh oh, what has she done now?

"You're going to be a big sister!" she squealed. Oh my God. I shut my eyes and slapped my hands over my eyes. Mom is forty-two. "Pardon me but aren't you a little old for a new baby?"

"I'm not pregnant," I must have spoken my thoughts out loud. "We are adopting!"

We spoke for twenty more minutes, damn the cost, I was going to enjoy my last conversation with mom. It was funny, but unlike the call with my dad I never felt the urge to cry. We laughed a lot as I listened to her describe her acclimation to Japanese culture. She was just so irreverently alive. Mom would always be a free bird.

My new sister would be joining them in a few weeks as soon as the paperwork was finalized. From what she told me they had been discussing adoption for a while. They had seen a documentary on children in orphanages and since Phil had never had a child they, on the spur of the moment, hired a lawyer and started the paperwork. They hadn't shared this with me because, she said, I would drag them back to reality and they wanted this chance. The process had been lengthy and expensive, but they felt the need. The little girl was three and would be joining them from China. Mom promised to send me photos with her next email. I was excited for them and I was thankful also that she would have a little soul to bring her some comfort in the days to come.

We said our good byes and when I hung up the phone I sat there for a while longer just thinking out the pros and cons. I had a wonderful child hood. Two loving parents who raised me the best way they knew how. I had had an amazing grandmother that taught me so much.

Friends were never my strong point and honestly, the phone didn't ring off the hook with anyone looking for me. My parents would be heartbroken with the loss of me, but they would go on. Dad would have his girlfriend, and maybe they would take it to a more permanent level. Mom would have Phil and little three year old to keep her busy. I would be missed, and my memory cherished. Like gran, I would live on in their hearts.

E

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E

B

I sat in the kitchen alone sipping a cup of tea. The others were setting things up for my death. Who gets to orchestrate their own death? I'm just kind of numb thinking of it. I snorted at that.

"May I talk to you?" Rose's voice startled me. I turned my head to see her standing in the doorway. I guess she wasn't involved in the preparations.

"Yes, have a seat." I patted the stool beside me. She sat down and just stared at the wall for a moment. A minute or more ticked by without her saying a word or looking at me. I held my tongue waiting her out. When she finally spoke, it startled me and I almost overturned what was left of my tea.

"You didn't have to do that. He didn't know you were in the closet." She wouldn't even look at me. I looked at her astonished. I had to make myself close my gaping mouth. "I could have bought you time until the others showed up." All I could do was shake my head.

"What, I was supposed to just hide?" What kind of mental mind fuck is this? "Lady, you might have just sat back and listened to the show but that's not my way. I was raised by parents with a firm belief in right and wrong. What was happening out there was just wrong." These people are crazy.

"But, you had seen the strength of Victoria. You had to have known that you couldn't fight a Fae warrior if you struggled so with a female."

"It didn't matter, someone needed help and it was my duty to help. I guess you could say it's a human thing Rose." I shook my head. "Any way, honestly I didn't think I just got pissed." I scratched at my hand with the memory of sucking the life out of that bastard. I didn't say all of what I was thinking. I was pissed, yes. But I had wanted to kill the bastard and that wasn't the human me thinking, I think that was the half human inside me thinking. He was bad, so he was lunch? So what do you call that? Judge, jury, and dinner?

She looked at me then and studied my face for lies. I looked her in the eye and let her think what she wanted. "I owe you now human," she said with a grimace. I bet that doesn't sit very well with her. "So I want you to take a sip of me."

What. The. Fuck. My eyes must look like a dinner plate. Is she nuts? "What did you just say? No way in hell Rose. Didn't you look at the mess I left of the last two 'sips' I had?" I was shocked that she would ask this. This woman didn't like owing someone if she would pay up with her life force, much as less her beauty.

"I think you could call those two incidents a full feed. I just want you to grab my hand and try a quick pull."

"But!"

"No, Bella. Listen to me, the world you're leaving is innocent. It's all cute puppies and bunnies, and a cartoon fantasy of Tinker Bell with Peter Pan. The world you're going to the puppies are hell hounds, monstrous dogs with moon eyes. The bunnies have fangs and suckers, not soft fur, and you would never cuddle one of those. And let's not forget Tink, well she does very naughty things to Peter. Things in my world will blacken your lily white soul. You have had only a small taste of that world," she said, as she pointedly looked at my stomach. Her smile turned malicious, her tone was cold enough to give me goose bumps.

"We stood around and watched Edward fuck you. You humans, so shy, you fuck behind your closed and locked bed room doors. Shhhh, the kiddies might hear." Her smile was mocking, her tone bitter and cold as she said leaning closer to me to look in my eyes. "Well sweet heart, if the Queen wishes it your sweet legs will be spread for the court and if you don't spread them willingly they will be held open. Everyone will want a piece of that sweet innocence you cloak yourself in."

My heart was pounding. I felt dizzy. I felt angry. I felt hungry. I grabbed her by the hand and mentally pulled. Ahhhhh this was so good.

Her eyes were startled at first then her normal gold radiance started to fade.

"No!" Emmett's arms yanked Rose from my hand and pulled her behind him.

My anger was still there though. "Mine!" I growled, and my right hand curled around Emmett's hand. The pulling feeling wasn't there, but my hand felt cold for an instant and then hot.

"Holy Shit!" Emmett yelled. He jerked away from me and stood there alternately massaging and shaking his hand.

"Bella, stop!" I opened my eyes and Edward, Jasper, and Alice were in front of me. Edward pulled me from Emmett grasp and he staggered back into the counter.

I stood there for a second and the distraction was all it took to bring me back to myself.

My, "Oh hell, what did I do." And Rose's, "It's my fault, we were experimenting," came out at the same time. Our audience didn't know which one of us to look at.

"Dammit Rose, she could have sucked you dry!" Jasper said.

"She froze my damn hand!" Emmett griped.

All eyes turned my way and I looked at Rose. She smiled back. The bitch did it on purpose! "Ya Bitch!" I screeched at her. "I could have killed you! You are like a dumb blonde squared!"

"Yeah, but now we know you can use those 'borrowed' powers now don't we." She smirked.

E

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E

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**AN: DECEMBER FUNNY the only real funny thing happened while dodging the Christmas Tornados! I got outted to my mother in law by my husband! My husband has no clue as to what I write. He naively thinks I'm writing teen stories like Twilight. But he has heard me and Dix talking about the 50 Shades book and how we remember when it was one of my favorite fics. Well while MOL has an eyebrow raised at my little hobby she asked "Do you write like that 50 Shades person they keep talking about on the TV?" I dryly replied, "Similar, but I'm not that detailed with my subjects". She has no clue what 50 shades is. After listening to all that blah, blah, blah, blah. I wanted to just say so badly, "Why, yes I do, and your son's ass bruises like a peach when I spank it." That probably would have had her twitching on the floor. The in-laws will certainly freak when the movie comes out and reveals what my hobby is really like. **_**I only wish I could write in 50 shades caliber. My sex scenes are comedy not smut.**_

**JANUARY HEARTBREAK The fun of December was followed by a proverbial kick to the gut. My husbands' company has decided to close all their offices in Alabama. *Cold hearted bastards, middle finger salute!* We have a month or so to go before he and a lot more people will be on the street. I am terrified that with our economy how long it might be before he gets a new job. There goes our main source of income. Send us some prayers folks; we really are going to need them. **

**RAMBLINGS Dixiebell and Qui are leaving at the end of February for a girl's trip to London to stalk (and maybe capture) Benedict Cumberbatch, best known as the BBC's Sherlock. I want to go whhhhhhaaaaaaa. I really just would like to get the hell away from everything at the moment. Hiding under the bed is not working. If one more fucker calls me and ask when he's going to get paid I plan to tell him to take a deep breath and hold it! I could stalk Rob, sigh….*wiping away a tear* But on a higher note my passport is up to date so I can go bail them out of a British jail. (If they want to come home they have to pay my way over there LOL and if I could find sufficient dumpster food I can't guarantee I would come home!) Are there any Brits reading this? If so what's the procedure? My sister has quite a few outstanding traffic tickets over there also. I shit you not; we have had to glue parts back on every rental she has ever driven! I expect them to pounce on her every time she steps off the plane at Gatwick.**

**Oh, if anyone does banners I need one, desperately. I've tried to make one and it just ends up the worst kind of cluster fuck. Please someone help the artistically challenged author.**

**Rec's for the month: **

**Hoodfabulous - anything she writes is funny and fabulous! Her work kept me company under the bed while I was hiding from my troubles. **

**knicnort3 – Revolution. Freaking amazing read. **

**Please review, it makes me smile. I need smiles, rather badly.**


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